O C Chronicles 1 of 22: Ninjas, pranks and ramen
by dopliss
Summary: Welcome! This is my first story in a saga of many. We start off with the Naruto universe: a retelling of the beginning, with my characters added. So let us go, believe it! Follows mostly the anime
1. Chapter 1 The ninjas of Konoha

**dopliss: Hello to you all, and welcome to my first official story! This and many other stories will all be part of something bigger, and to start this saga off, I'll give you some background to all of this. So without further ado: let's start the first story of ****O. C. Chronicles. ****Let´s go!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only MY added elements.**

**Authors note: Sorry if you Naruto fans out there are unsatisfied with my using of the dub names of the towns, jutsus ect., but the honorifics and difficult names would be too tiring to write.**

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><p><em><strong>Long ago, when time was just beginning, a war between good and evil was commencing.<strong>_

_**Despite what the powers of good could muster, the powerful leader of the evil was too much to handle.**_

_**The deity of the good decided to create a force strong enough to defeat the evil, and thus created 20 beings – 10 of male and 10 of female – to do battle against the evil.**_

…_**But 7 of the 20 felt superiority and distrust towards the others, and the leader of the evil used his powers to corrupt the 7.**_

_**But despite that, the 20 still fought against him and won… but not without a price.**_

_**The leader of the evil used his last powers to end their lives, erase their memories and let them have inhumane attributes, once reborn into several worlds – each different from the other.**_

_**This was the origin of the Heroes and the Anti-Heroes.**_

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><p>The peace reigned throughout the hidden Leaf-village of Konoha. Long have this small town and its inhabitants lived in prosperity, and everyone and all enjoyed their lives. Ever since the monster Kyubi, a nine-tailed demon fox, was sealed away – after years of rampage – all have been excellent in the little ninja town…<p>

…except for today.

"Get back here, you little…!" a man yelled. One of the higher-ranking ninjas – whose uniforms always was a blue bodysuit with a murky-green vest and his forehead protector, a headband with the village insignia on it – were running and looking after a person that have spilled paint on him. His face was – or would have been – red with rage while being covered by blue paint.

"Hey, what's wrong?" a different man asked.

"_He´s_ been making pranks again!" the first man explained.

"Who has? Naruto?"

"No, it´s…" the man was interrupted because they both got barrels of water thrown over them.

"Me, ya dummy," a voice from above on a house´s roof started, "and don´t thank me for giving you a bath, you stank and it was my pleasure."

The voice belonged to a young boy, 12 years of age. He had tan skin, gray, spiky hair and green eyes. He wore a cyan, sleeveless shirt, and brown, ripped pants. An oddity about his appearance was a) instead of two human ears he had two triangular, white cat ears on top of his head and b) he had a long, white-furred tail of a cat.

The boy´s name? Torabu Maka.

Said boy was immediately running after finishing his insult, and was in hot pursuit by his two victims, laughing at hem all the while.

"You can´t get away this time, brat!" one of them yelled.

Torabu just laughed even more, "Puh-lease! I´m the town´s king of pranksters, I can´t get caught or punished." He boasted.

He jumped down from the roof and ran along the street, hoping to lose his chasers.

"Come back here, you!" a different man yelled.

Torabu looked at a different road and saw a kid his age being chased by two different men. The kid´s skin was also tan, but he had yellow hair and whisker-like lines on his cheeks. He wore an orange jumpsuit – the top half of it hanging behind him like a cape – and a dark green undershirt.

Torabu may never have noticed the kid before, but he decided to run alongside him. He noticed the kid was holding buckets of paint as he ran.

"So, what have you done to piss them of?" Torabu asked.

"I painted on the Hokage Stone Faces!" the boy replied in an excited voice, "What about you?"

Torabu shrugged, "I just decided to give two guys a quick bath."

The boy snickered and looked at him with blue eyes, "Sounds like you are in hot water."

"Ironic, as _I_ gave _them_ a bath." Torabu spotted a crossroad. "Well, see ya!" And with that he parted away from the kid.

The boy ran and jumped from roof to roof to get away from his pursuers. And a couple of minutes later, he succeeded.

"Heh, those idiots don´t know how to catch me, the next Hokage!" he boasted.

"Oh, really!"

The boy quickly spun around and came face to face with his sensei Iruka Umino. Iruka was a man in his 20ties, tan skin as well; black hair tied in a spiky, short ponytail; and with a scar across his nose, dressed like the men chasing the two troublemakers.

The boy started to panic, "GAH! Iruka-sensei! Don´t scare me like that!"

Iruka shook his head, "Naruto, how do you plan to, possibly, one day lead the town, when you do nothing but cause trouble and skipping your classes!"

The boy, Naruto, was then tied up and hauled back to his school.

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><p>"Where did that cat-brat go!"<p>

The two men, who had chased Torabu, had just lost him.

"He won´t get off the hook this time! Let´s report this to his sensei!" the other replied.

"I still don't get why our Hokage took him in." the first sighed and walked off with his friend. Unbeknownst to them, Torabu had hid in a tree in the area they had just left.

"Because he knew I could liven up this place," he chuckled.

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><p>Later in Konoha´s school for ninja-training – after Iruka had brought back a complaining and fully dressed Naruto, and given the class a lecture – everyone was about to be checked if they had learned to do a Ninjutsu technique. Before they began, however, the two men burst into the classroom.<p>

"Iruka!" one of them said.

"We want to complain about one of your students," the other stated.

"Don´t worry, Naruto has been restricted and will get his punishment later," Iruka replied.

"Not him," the first of them started, "We´re talking about that no good, troublemaking, cat-boy you call a student!" he finished almost in a yell.

Iruka looked confused, "Torabu haven't left this classroom at all."

"Yes he did! He threw paint at me!" The man was yelling now.

"Umm, excuse me," a student started, "Torabu didn´t move away from his seat, even when Iruka-sensei left," and here he indicated to a seat where Torabu sat and read a scroll. He glanced up towards them with a bored expression and then back to the scroll.

"Wha– but… he…" the two men were flabbergasted.

"Now, would you please leave the room? I have a class to teach," Iruka stated and the two men left. Torabu smirked to himself – he had a secret.

_Thank you, Cloning Technique! _He praised himself. He had taught himself a skill to clone himself, so he can listen to the lectures while the clone had fun making chaos.

"Okay, class, today we are gonna see if you learned the Transformation Technique. All of you are going to transform into me, so get in line," Iruka ordered, and everyone walked up in a line and awaited their respective turns. One student walked up in front of Iruka, made a hand-seal and suddenly smoke surrounded the student, and when the smoke cleared… a second Iruka appeared!

"Excellent, you pass. Next: Naruto Uzumaki," the real Iruka said.

Smoke surrounded the fake Iruka, and the student appeared once again. Naruto stepped up, a little nervous. He had never done something right with his Ninjutsu and today wouldn't be any different, he knew it.

_This won´t be fun, _he thought and did the hand-seal. The smoke from before surrounded Naruto… but while it drifted away, something was different.

Instead of another Iruka, the one appearing was a teenage girl, with a nice figure, long yellow hair, and same eyes and facial features as Naruto. But the most noticeable thing about her was the fact that she was buck-naked!

Iruka stared at this, jaw dropped, eyes as big as plates, and all color drained from his face. Five seconds later, blood burst out of his nose as if it was a rocket being launched.

Naruto transformed back to a clothed male, and scratched the back of his head while laughing. "That´s what I call a Sexy-Jutsu!" he said.

While Torabu found it funny, the others in the class didn´t laugh and Iruka was far from laughing. He had recovered and put plugs in his nose to stop the bleeding.

His face was formed in anger. "STOP WITH THOSE TRICKS! IT´S NOT FUNNY!" Iruka nearly roared and popped blood vessels.

_I´ve GOT to learn that Jutsu! _Torabu was sure this guy was going to be lots of fun.

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><p>Naruto was later found hanging from the Hokage Stone Faces – a Mount Rushmore-like mountain of the four earlier rulers of Konoha – and scrubbing all the paint away, Iruka watching over him.<p>

"You don´t get to go home before you are done." Iruka reminded him.

"I don´t care! No one´s waiting for me!" Naruto replied bitterly. It was true; he had no family to care for him.

Iruka had a pitying look in his eyes, as he looked at the boy scrubbing. "Naruto…" The boy looked up at the sound of his name being called.

"If you once finish cleaning, then I´ll buy you ramen," the older man said while scratching his chin.

Naruto was surprised at that statement, and quickly lightened up. "Okay!" he exclaimed happily and began scrubbing faster.

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><p>Torabu was walking along the street, swinging his tail in rhythm to his walking, wondering what to do next. Another prank perhaps?<p>

The loud sound of his growling stomach answered his question. _Oh well, food before fun, _he agreed and went to the nearest ramen shop, the Ramen Ichiraku.

He went over to the counter of the store and sat on a barstool. "One bowl of pork ramen for me!" he ordered aloud.

While waiting, he noticed two familiar people approaching the counter themselves. Torabu instantly knew who it was. _Iruka-sensei… and that Uzumaki kid too._

The two of them sat at the counter and Iruka ordered for both of them.

"Hey there, Iruka-sensei," Torabu greeted calmly, "How´s your nose?"

Iruka looked at him and replied, "It stopped bleeding after half an hour, thank you for asking."

"No biggie," he then regarded Naruto, "So, what did ya make him do?"

"I made him clean up his mess from this morning."

Torabu whistled, "Sounds tough."

While they talked, their orders were served, and Torabu quickly dug into his meal, with gusto.

Meanwhile, Iruka asked Naruto, "You do know who the Hokage is, right?"

"Yeah, of course!" he responded, "Those who gets the title Hokage is the town´s best ninjas, right?" his eyes then shone with admiration, "Especially the Fourth Hokage was a hero! He saved the town from that fox demon."

"Yes, but why did you vandalize their monument?"

"I want to work to deserve the title…" Naruto pointed his chopsticks at Iruka, "…and become the best Hokage _ever_! Then I´ll get all the admiration!"

Iruka looked at him with a surprised look, while Torabu twisted one of his ears, still keeping his face focused on the near-empty bowl.

"By the way, I have a request," Naruto then folded his hands together in a begging kind of way.

"Another bowl?" Iruka guessed.

"No, I wanna try your headband."

Iruka laughed, "Sorry, that´s a no-go. Only ninjas who had passed the school can wear these. So, let´s hope you pass the test tomorrow."

Torabu looked up from his now-empty bowl, "That goes for me too. But _expect_ me to pass, instead!" he boasted.

After all three of them finished their meals, they parted and went for their houses.

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><p>The following morning, all students had arrived in class, and were listening to Iruka about the exam.<p>

"As the exam test, you have to perform the Shadow Clone Technique. I want you all to make two doubles of yourselves," he explained.

Torabu smirked at this; he had mastered it long ago. Naruto, on the other hand, was incredibly nervous. _Oh, no! My weak point!_ He thought.

"When I call your names, you go to the examination room. Starting with… Torabu Maka."

Torabu rose from his seat, and followed Iruka to the room. In there was a desk, and seated there was another teacher. He was dressed like Iruka, but he had Caucasian skin, and silver hair.

Iruka went over to the desk and took a seat. "Go ahead, Torabu," he said.

Torabu made his hand-seal, and smoke puffed up from nowhere. Once it cleared, there stood three Torabus!

"Well done. You sure know how to duplicate," Iruka applauded.

The three Torabus scratched the back of their heads and laughed at the same time, "Not as handsome as the original, huh?"

"Congratulations, young boy," the other man err… congratulated, and took a headband, "Which of you are the real one?"

Suddenly, a fourth Torabu popped up right in front of the desk, startling the grown men. "He´s right here!" he exclaimed.

He took his headband and turned around. "And you´re right, _I´m _the hottest of us!" and with that, the clones disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Torabu left the room.

Later, it was Naruto´s turn. He walked into the room, performed the hand-seal, the puff of smoke appeared…

…and when it cleared, on the floor, right next to him, lay a pale, unconscious clone of him.

Naruto knew what happened, and went wide-eyed. To prove his assumption, Iruka yelled, "Failure!"

"Oh, don´t be so rough on him, Iruka," the other man said, "It is his third time, after all, and he actually _made_ a clone this time. Can´t you let him pass?"

Naruto thought there was hope, but, "It won't do, Mizuki," Iruka replied, "The others made at least two other clones. He only made one, and it blows. We can´t let it slide."

Naruto was angered by that statement.

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><p>Later, all the students´ parents met them at the school to congratulate them. The only one´s parents who wasn´t there, was Naruto´s. Not just because he flunked his exam, but also because they weren´t alive.<p>

"Congrats´ son, now you´re a real man!" one of the fathers praised.

One of the other men looked at Naruto, who was sitting on a swing. "Hey, isn´t that the kid that always fail?" he asked.

"Yeah, it might be the best," another replied, "Think if he becomes a ninja… He is after all…"

The first man shushed the other, "Don´t talk about that now!"

Naruto was starting to dwell deeper into his sadness, when a certain cat-boy approached, now wearing his headband like a scarf.

"I heard you didn´t pass, shucks," Torabu said.

"What do you care?" Naruto grumbled, "Why don´t you go celebrate with your family?"

Now Torabu looked gloomy, "I don´t have one," Naruto looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "I was found alone outside of the town. The Hokage took me in and gave me a place to live."

Naruto was surprised. "Hey, I don´t have a family as well!" he said.

"Ya know pal, we´re a lot more alike than we think. We both like pranks, we both want to be great ninjas, we´re both hated by the town," Torabu then looked cheerful at him, "Hey, wanna be friends?"

Naruto looked even more surprised, but then smiled, "Sure!" and they shook hands, "Name´s Naruto Uzumaki. Believe it!"

"I´m Torabu Maka!"

Mizuki approached Naruto from behind. "Naruto," he started, "I want to talk with you under four eyes."

"Sure thing, Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto replied and stood up, "See you later, Torabu!" he then bade farewell.

"See ya, dude!" and Torabu left to do his own business.

Meanwhile, Iruka was talking to someone, when the Third Hokage – an old man in a white robe and a big, red hat, the current leader of Konoha – called out to him. "Iruka, we need to talk."

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><p>Mizuki and Naruto were later found sitting on a rooftop, talking.<p>

"I know you find Iruka as a strict and demanding teacher," Mizuki explained, "but he had a rough life. His parents died when he was but a child."

"He´s always picking on me…" Naruto mumbled.

"He might think you´re like him, and wants the best for you, since you´re also an orphan."

"I just want to pass."

Mizuki looked at him and stood up. "Fine then… Let me tell you a secret."

Torabu had hidden himself and was eavesdropping on the conversation, not liking what he heard.

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><p>Later that night, Iruka was at home, laying on his bed and remembering what was said to him.<p>

"Iruka," the Third Hokage said, "I understand your emotions, but he´s just like you."

He then remembered his past. More specifically, 12 years ago, when the Kyubi was attacking Konoha, how he was forced to flee from the beast and leave his parents to die, how malicious the beast´s eyes looked…

A knocking on the door broke his train of thought. He went over to the door, and upon opening it, he saw a slightly panicking Mizuki on the other side. "What´s wrong?" he asked.

"We need to hurry to the Hokage!" Mizuki responded, "Naruto have stolen the Scroll of Seals!"

Upon hearing this, Iruka was shocked, and they hurried to the Hokage´s residence.

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><p>Meanwhile, in the forrest surrounding the town, Naruto had run off to a clearing, and was reading the scroll.<p>

"Let´s see… 'How to make a Shadow Clone,' Why start with something I can´t do!" he grumbled aloud.

Torabu stood on a tree branch and looked at Naruto with a disappointed look. _Better get something out of this,_ he thought.

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><p>Many ninjas had gathered outside of the Hokage´s house, all angry at Naruto.<p>

"This time he´ll get fiercely punished!" one of them yelled.

"It is a dangerous scroll, the First Hokage have sealed," the Hokage stated, "It can have horrible consequences if abused."

He then looked at the other ninjas, "The scroll has been missing for half a day. Hurry! Find Naruto!" he ordered, and the ninjas sped off.

_Maybe he´s in the forest, _Iruka thought, and set off to the forest.

Mizuki, in the meanwhile, jumped through the village, with a smirk on his face. _I´ll tell the whole town! Once they know he took the Scroll of Seals, he´s toast!_

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><p>Naruto was found out of breath and bruised, slumped against a tree. He had been practicing techniques from the scroll.<p>

Iruka then arrived and looked at him with a smile. "Ha! I found you!" he gloated.

"Nah-ah! _I _found _you, _nose-bleeder!" Naruto retaliated.

"IDIOT! **I **found **you**!" Iruka yelled.

Torabu jumped down from the branch, a grim look on his face, and approached the two. "Good you showed up. We´ve got something to say," he said.

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, "I´ve learned a new trick! If I can do it, would you then please let me pass?"

_So, _that´s _where he got those wounds from, _Iruka thought. Then he noticed the big scroll on Naruto´s back. "Where´d you get _that _from?"

"Mizuki-sensei told him about it," Torabu answered grimly.

"He said, that if I can learn its contents, then you would let me pass," Naruto explained.

Iruka was surprised. _Mizuki…? _He had little time to think about it, when his senses alerted him. He punched Naruto out of the way, and spun around to block a bunch of kunai – ninja knives – from hurting him badly.

Torabu looked around, and spotted Mizuki on a branch, in a throwing stance, with a big shuriken – a ninja star – on his back.

"So, it was you, Mizuki!" Iruka said while pulling a kunai out of his leg.

Mizuki looked at Naruto. "Give me that scroll, Naruto!" he ordered calmly.

Naruto looked confused. "Hey, what the hell´s going on!" he asked bewildered.

"Don´t, under any circumstances, give him that scroll!" cried Torabu.

"It´s a dangerous scroll, that describes the forbidden ninja-arts!" Iruka shouted, "Mizuki used you to get it for himself!"

"Naruto, you don´t want that scroll," said Mizuki calmly, "What you really want is the truth."

Iruka´s eyes widened. "Oh, no you don´t!" he yelled at Mizuki.

Mizuki ignored him. "You know about the demon fox, which was sealed 12 years ago, right?" he closed his eyes, "Back then, a law was made…"

"A law…?" wondered Naruto.

"Yes, a law… that you weren´t to know about,"

"What was that law!" Torabu yelled. Mizuki began chuckling.

"Please, tell me what that law was," Naruto pleaded.

Mizuki gave a nasty smile. "A law that forbid to state, that Naruto is the demon fox," he answered calmly.

Naruto was shocked when he heard this. "What the hell does that mean!" Torabu cried, also shocked.

"It means," Mizuki pointed at Naruto, "that HE is the nine-tailed fox that destroyed the town and killed Iruka´s parents!"

"Stop talking!" Iruka snapped.

"You were sealed away by the late Hokage, and everyone have been lying to you ever since! You have noticed that they all hate you!" Mizuki removed the shuriken and prepared to throw it. "And the same goes for Iruka! He hates you, just like anyone else!"

Iruka looked sadly at Naruto, as he denied all that was said to him. Torabu looked at him in pity. _Instead of maternal love, you got hatred and cold, _he thought, _that explains why he pranks people: He just wanted attention._

"No one will ever show you respect!" Mizuki threw the shuriken at Naruto, "The scroll was used to seal you away!"

Iruka quickly jumped on Naruto, an the shuriken hit him instead! It was now sticking out of his back, while he coughed up blood. The other three were shocked at seeing this.

"Why…?" asked Naruto in a whisper.

"I´ve… always been alone and sad… because I had no mom or dad…" Iruka explained, "I acted like a clown, to get some attention. I couldn't´ do anything I was proud of. No one would have noticed me if I didn´t do it," he sighed, "It was tough… and you must´ve felt the same way," he was crying now, "Forgive me Naruto… if I´ve done my work any better, then this would´ve never happen."

Naruto looked at Iruka, and then he got up and ran away, despite his friends calling for him.

Mizuki jumped over to the damaged teacher and the cat-boy, laughing. "Naruto isn´t one to suddenly change his mind," he said, "He´ll use the scroll to get revenge on the town," he then looked at the two, "You must´ve seen it in his eyes…? They´re that of a demon…!"

"Naruto is no demon!" torabu snapped and charged at Mizuki.

He dodged the attack and prepared to run away. "I´ll catch up to Naruto, kill him, take the scroll and come back for you!" he said and jumped off to where Naruto was headed, but he was stopped by an enraged cat-boy.

"Like hell you will!" the boy cried and prepared to strike.

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><p>The other ninjas were gathered in the town, knowing of what happened, and were yelling angrily.<p>

"We should´ve killed him!"

"Let´s kill him, before he kills us!"

"Ungrateful bastard! Kill him!" …and other such things were said.

Meanwhile the Hokage were in his chamber, looking at his crystal ball. "Yes, I can see him…" he said as an image of Naruto jumping from branch to branch, appeared. "Mizuki have told him… and Naruto is horrified…!" he looked up from the crystal ball, "His inner demon can be freed… and he also has the forbidden scroll… The possibilities might be small, but if the seal gets broken…"

* * *

><p>Torabu was now panting, as he had fought against Mizuki. He charged towards him again, but his feet were swept away from the ground, and then he was kicked into the woods. Mizuki then transformed into Iruka and jumped up to the branches, and then jumped from branch to branch.<p>

He then spotted Naruto and yelled to him. "Naruto, give me the scroll! Quick! We can´t let Mizuki have it!"

Naruto stopped at a branch…

…and set off towards the airborne, disguised Mizuki, and hit him, sending him towards the ground!

With a puff of smoke, Mizuki reverted back to his normal form. "How did you know I wasn´t Iruka?" he asked.

Naruto chuckled. "´Cause I saw you transform." He then transformed, revealing him to be Torabu.

"Not bad…"

Unbeknownst to both of them, the real Naruto hid behind a nearby tree, with the scroll in his arms.

"Hwy transform into your town´s plaque to protect him?" asked Mizuki.

"One: Naruto´s no more of a plaque than me, and two: an idiot like you should never have that scroll!" Torabu answered.

"_You _are the idiot! And Naruto´s just like me."

"What do you mean?"

Mizuki smirked. "You can do whatever you want, thanks to that scroll," he answered, "Of course a demon would use that power!"

Torabu narrowed his eyes and lowered his head. "Yes, a _demon _would," he replied, "But Naruto´s not a demon… he´s my friend."

Naruto was surprised at that statement, as Torabu went on. "He and I are very similar in personality. I, myself, had no friends before I met him, and no one to care for me at all… The same can be said about him. True, he _might _have been a demon before… but ´cause of me and Iruka-sensei, he became one of us… a human… and not just any human," here he looked at Mizuki, "He´s Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto was silently crying in joy. His new friend _was_ really his friend.

Mizuki spat to the side. "This is a ridiculous opera!" he mocked, and threw another shuriken, which Torabu quickly attempted to dodge, but got cut on his left arm. "Kid, I would´ve let you live a little longer, but you´ve made me change my mind…" he took another shuriken and spun it around, "Now, it´s the end for you!" and he charged at the boy.

Torabu dodged a few strikes at him, but when he jumped backwards, he lost his footing and saw Mizuki dashing towards him…

…only to be punched away by an angry Naruto.

"You shouldn´t have done that…!" Mizuki hissed.

"Keep your hands off my friend, or I´ll kill you!" Naruto said with a cold voice, despite his anger.

"Not a moment too soon, pal!" Torabu greeted.

Mizuki stood up. "Hah! You´re nothing but a weakling! I´ll finish you in an instant!" he boasted.

"Just try! I´ll pay you back a thousand fold!" and Naruto made a hand-seal.

"Bring it, demon fox!" and Mizuki charged at Naruto.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto roared, and with a huge puff of smoke, appeared an entire army of perfect Naruto Clones!

"What! W-What´s going on!" Mizuki was shocked.

"What´s wrong?" "Why aren´t you attacking?" the clones taunted in tandem. Even Torabu was flabbergasted. "Well then," "Let us go first then!" the clones agreed.

"Don´t forget about me!" said Torabu.

Mizuki let out a scream, before he was punched and kicked by the clones. Then, Torabu let out his attacks.

"This is for Iruka-sensei!" he punched him in the head, "This is for Naruto!" he then delivered a kick in his stomach, "And this is for being. A. Huge. BASTARD!" he let out a powerful punch that sent Mizuki flying at light-speed into the air!

The clones all disappeared, leaving the real Naruto and Torabu. They looked at each other in silence, until the cat-boy sheepishly scratched his head. "I´ve might have overdone it…" he said and laughed.

The boys then regrouped with their sensei, and helped him recover a little. "Where´s Mizuki?" he asked.

"We took care of him!" Naruto stated.

"One jerk sent airborne: check!" Torabu added.

"_You_ beat him?" Iruka asked surprised.

"Ya should´ve seen it sensei! I was on the ropes, when Naruto showed up and made an army of Shadow Clones!"

"Really?" Iruka then smiled, "Naruto, close your eyes. I´ve got something for you."

* * *

><p>Back in the village, the Hokage stepped out of his house, to the angry mass of ninjas.<p>

"Do not worry any longer," he assured them, "Naruto´s coming back."

* * *

><p>"Can I open my eyes now?" Naruto asked.<p>

"Yes, you may," answered Iruka.

Naruto opened his eyes, and saw that his sensei had removed his headband and placed it on Naruto´s forehead.

"Congratulations!" Iruka praised, "You passed you exam. How about we celebrate with ramen on my account?"

Naruto was so overjoyed, that he tackled his sensei in a hug, while Torabu looked on with a smile on his lips.

"It´s just the beginning, it´ll get harder from here on out…" Iruka said.

"Oh, stop…" Naruto sighed.

"Well, we can talk about this over ramen."

Torabu looked pleased with what just happened. _Naruto Uzumaki, _he thought, _you might make things more interesting._

* * *

><p><strong>dopliss: There we go! My very first chapter! And sorry if I was wrong on Naruto´s hair-color, but I find it to be yellow instead of blond.<strong>

**Now time for something special: my O. C. Bio. Each time a new O. C. of mine shows up, I´ll give them a description in the end of the chapter.**

**So, here comes Torabu´s!**

_**Name: **__Torabu Maka_

_**Age: **__12_

_**Author's nickname:**__ "The prankster ninja."_

_**Gender: **__Male_

_**Height: **__1.45 M._

_**Weight: **__57 kg._

_**Appearance: **__Green eyes, gray, spiky hair, tan skin, white cat-ears, white tail._

_**Clothing: **__Cyan, sleeveless shirt, brown, ripped pants._

_**Abilities: **__Ninja-skills, cunning trap-making and escape-routes._

_**Weaknesses: **__Afraid of dogs._

_**Bio: **__A true troublemaker at heart. His name is literally Japanese for "Troublemaker"! Raised in the town of Konoha, he lived most of his life being ignored, despite his appearance. Getting tired of it, he started making his pranks on the very people that ignored him – sadly also on the people that took him in. Despite his nature, he has a strong heart and wants the best for him and his friends. He might be stupid at times, but he´s a genius when it concerns pranks and escapes._

dopliss: (looking out the window with a binocular) Where the hell is he?

(dopliss spots something flying towards the window)

dopliss: Ah, there he is.

(dopliss moves out of the way, as Mizuki crashes through the window)

dopliss: Welcome back to solid ground, dude.

Mizuki: (groans) Where am I?

dopliss: My room. I write the stories here.

Mizuki: Oh, I see. Can I stay here for a while?

dopliss: Sure, knock yourself out. (to readers) See you guys next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2 Konohamaru

**dopliss: Hello again, dear readers! I´m back with the next chapter for you all.**

**Mizuki: And I´m here as well, folks.**

**dopliss: So, without further ado…**

**Both: Let´s get started!**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own the Naruto universe, that belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**A/n: Sorry to you Naruto fans if I disappoint you.**

* * *

><p>The morning was beginning to have its effect on the villagers of Konoha, as the streets were slowly buzzing with life and chattering.<p>

But still, before the streets were really buzzing, a certain cat-boy had been up and awake since 5:00 in the morning.

Standing before a mirror in his small apartment, Torabu stood with a satisfied expression. "Hah. I think I´m getting there," he thought aloud to himself. He then ate his usual breakfast of raw trout, and left for his appointment.

What appointment? To take a picture of him for the Ninja Registration Form.

He jumped from rooftop to rooftop, to get to his destination. A little while later, he found the place, and could see that it all happened on a rooftop. Smirking to himself, he leaped from his current building/steppingstone, and landed on his feet on the rooftop.

"The king of pranksters has arrived for the picture!" he bragged.

"Just a second, kid, I´m busy with another student right now," the photographer grumbled.

Torabu looked around to find the other student, and saw a slightly familiar boy. It looked like Naruto, except he had chalk-white skin with red lines and symbols drawn on his body. The only thing that reminded Torabu, that it WAS Naruto, was the yellow hair and orange jumpsuit.

"Hey, Torabu!" Naruto greeted, and the two boys high-fived.

"Yo, Naruto! What´s with the makeup? It´s too early for Halloween," Torabu asked.

Naruto chuckled at that. "I thought it wise to look awesome for my picture."

"Just don´t come to me if ya get a heart-attack," and the two ninjas laughed at that.

"All right, Ghost-kid, I´m ready to take your picture," the photographer boomed. Naruto walked into position, but the photographer doubted a little. "Are you sure this is how you want it, kid?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hurry up!" Naruto ordered.

Shrugging, the photographer prepared to take the picture, while Naruto posed so he looked like an enraged celebrity, trying to block the camera with his palm. When the picture was taken, Naruto stopped posing and went home to wait for the finished Form.

Meanwhile, Torabu snickered to himself. _What might the Hokage say to _that_! _He thought in amusement. When the photographer was ready again, Torabu stepped up in front of the camera, and posed by crossing his arms, both hands giving a "thumbs up", and his mouth formed in a smirk. The picture was taken, and Torabu went home to wait for his Form.

"I can use the time to polish _that _technique," he said to himself.

* * *

><p>The following day, both ninja-boys were summoned to the Hokage´s chamber, discussing their pictures (especially Naruto´s).<p>

"So, what do you think? Pretty awesome, right?" Naruto asked. The Hokage looked up from his profile and stared at him. "It took me three hours, but it was worth it," Naruto grinned.

"This won´t do. Try again," the Hokage said, not amused.

"What! C´mon let me use _that _photo! It makes me look awesome!"

"It makes you look more like a clown than now."

Naruto was peeved that he couldn´t get his way… and then decided to make a different approach.

He made a hand-seal, smoke puffed up… and when it started drifting away, Naruto was no longer male. He used his Sexy-Jutsu to transform into the long-haired teenage girl.

"Please, great Hokage… let me use that photo," she said in a cute but seductive voice.

The Hokage was caught off-guard by Naruto´s perverted antics, and ended up falling backwards, nose bursting blood out. Torabu himself, was also caught off-guard, and would´ve ended up like the Hokage, if he hadn´t already seen the technique firsthand.

Naruto reverted back to his original form, and looked sheepish. "Sorry, Hokage…" he apologized.

Torabu´s cat-ears picked up something… someone breathing near them.

Meanwhile, the Hokage had regained his consciousness, and looked at Naruto. "Why aren´t you wearing your headband?" he said surprisingly calmly.

Naruto sighed. "I wouldn´t want to risk damaging it," he explained.

"I see… but a Ninja Registration Form is serious business… it´s an important document for you…" he narrowed his eyes a little, "But you think it´s nothing serious?"

"I just don´t follow those old traditions."

The conversation was interrupted by the door squeaking. The three of them looked at the door, waiting for whatever would happen.

"Defend yourself, old man!" a voice shouted, "There´s only room for one of us!"

The door burst open and the person charged in. Torabu was ready to fight this intruder off –

– That is, if the intruder didn´t trip and fall flat on his face…

"Not him again…" the Hokage sighed.

A black-haired ninja, dressed in a black bodysuit and with sunglasses covering his eyes, appeared in the doorway. "I´m terribly sorry, great Hokage, but he has been disobeying me again," he said.

The ninja then spotted Naruto and mentally chuckled. _That´s the demon fox… _he thought, _he thinks he´s gonna be a ninja…!_

When the intruder rose from the ground, it appeared he was but a child.

The young boy looked to be 10 years or younger, had Caucasian skin, brown, spiky hair, and black eyes. He adorned a yellow shirt with a red version of the village´s symbol on it, grey shorts, and a long blue scarf. He also wore a grey helmet with an orange frowning face on the right side, a red circle on the left side, and a hole at the top so his hair could stick out.

The child spotted Naruto, and pointed a judging finger at him. "You!" he shouted, "You set a trap for me, so I would´ve fall!"

Naruto became annoyed by that statement, went over to the kid, and lifted him up in his collar. "What´re you talking about!" he shouted, "You tripped yourself, you little brat!"

The unknown ninja then looked a little scared. "Don´t touch him, Naruto!" he warned, "That´s Konohamaru, the Third Hokage´s grandchild!"

The boy, Konohamaru, bared his teeth at Naruto, showing he had a chipped tooth. "What´s wrong!" he taunted, "Can´t you hit me ´cause he´s my grandfather!"

Naruto then yelled, "I don´t care if he´s your grand_mother_!" he then slammed the younger boy´s head into the ground, "Believe it!"

The unknown ninja now looked horrified, while the Hokage were a lot less worried. He sighed and said to the ninja, "Ebisu, would you please escort our two ruffians out?"

The ninja, Ebisu, nodded and lead Naruto and Torabu out, the latter leaving with the words, "Fine by me, this was getting boring, anyway. Like the fact this is the only time I talk in this scene!"

When Ebisu returned to pick up Konohamaru, the child was gone! "W-W-Where is he!" he stuttered in shock.

"He snuck out when my back was turned," stated the Hokage, "You better find him… you are his teacher, after all."

* * *

><p>The two ninjas were now walking along the street, talking together.<p>

"So, I´ve practiced the Sexy-Jutsu at home, lately," Torabu admitted.

"Really? Gotten any good with it?" Naruto asked.

"I think I´m around mastering it, but I need someone else´s opinion, before I can judge it."

"Show it to me, then. I can easily go for a judge."

Torabu then decided to change the subject. "He´s still following us, ya know."

"I know."

They were referring to the fact, that they´ve been followed by Konohamaru, doing his best to stay hidden.

They both turned around, both peeved, and could easily see him hiding, despite his efforts at becoming invisible. He was sitting up against the fence, with a sheet, decorated to look like the fence, covering him, but he forgot two things, which gave him away: the first was that his sitting form could easily be seen and second; the sheet was held the wrong way.

"Come on out!" Torabu yelled, "This is ridiculous."

Konohamaru blew his cover and smile a wry smile. "You´re not bad, but that´s what they say about you two," he stated.

"What do you want?" Naruto said annoyed.

The young boy went over to Naruto, pointed at him, and said, "I want you to teach me your erotic skill you used against my stupid grandpa!"

Naruto looked at him with wide eyes, and then he smiled, "Fine then," he affirmed.

The three of them walked through the town, explaining how to use the technique to Konohamaru.

"…So just focus your energy and make the hand-seal," Naruto finished explaining.

"Okay! I got it!" the young boy replied in complete understanding.

"How ´bout a test, then?" Torabu suggested. He looked around and found a pretty woman. He then pointed at her, "Try transforming into her."

"Alright, let´s try!" Konohamaru made a hand-seal and transformed, but the result came out wrong. Instead of a tall woman with a nice figure, came out a short, fat parody of anything feminine.

"How do I look?" she asked with a deep near-masculine voice.

"Needs improvement," Torabu stated honestly.

"A _lot _of improvement," Naruto agreed.

Konohamaru reverted back normal and looked upset at the cat-boy. "I´d like to see _you _do any better!" he responded bitterly.

"Fine, then," he shrugged, "Come with me."

He led them into an alley and faced them. "Okay, here goes," and then he performed the Jutsu.

What appeared before the two was a true sight to behold. Where Torabu stood, was now a buck-naked teenage girl with a great figure, tanned like her true form, with the same eyes, ears and tail. The only thing different (besides the obvious) was that her grey hair had grown long, and grey fur had sprouted on her chest, crotch and buttocks – covering her private parts.

Both Naruto´s and Konohamaru´s jaws dropped and blood spurted out of their noses. Even Naruto didn´t see _this _coming.

The girl smiled. "What´s wrong boys?" she asked in a seductive purr, "Does my attractive body make you shy, huh?" she started to fondle her own breasts.

"D-D-Don´t you dare try anything funny!" Naruto stammered, "R-Remember, you´re still a guy!"

The girl snickered, and transformed back into a clothed Torabu. "Yup, I´m a guy!" he replied.

* * *

><p>Ebizu was standing upon a building and scouted for Konohamaru.<p>

Then he spotted something, "There they are!" he announced and sped off.

_I´ll teach you how to become a Hokage, _he thought, _I´m your fast shortcut, grandchild!_

* * *

><p>The three had since been training Konohamaru in a forest clearing. They went there after helping the child understand woman figures better, by looking in magazines, to trying to sneak into the women´s bathhouse – all efforts resulting in lots of physical pain.<p>

They were now taking a break from the training. Torabu lied on a big tree branch, while the other two sat on a log, drinking cans of soda.

"Oy! Mind giving me a soda?" Torabu asked.

"Sure," Naruto replied and took a soda. He then walked over to the tree, held up the soda, and the prankster ninja´s tail wrapped around the can and lifted it up into his hand.

"Thanks."

Naruto went back to his seat beside Konohamaru. "So, what´s the big deal about you and your grandpa?" he asked.

The young boy sighed. "My name, Konohamaru, was given to me by him," he started, "I´m named after the town. No one ever uses my real name; instead they call me 'the honorable Third Hokage´s grandchild'," he narrowed his eyes, "No one know who _I _am… it makes me sick! That´s why I wanna be Hokage!"

"Of course no one would care about you, pipsqueak," Torabu stated, earning himself an insulted glare from Konohamaru, "You don´t become Hokage, just like that. You need to earn people´s respect to even get _near_ becoming Hokage. It´s not that easy."

Naruto chuckled, "Besides, if you want to be Hokage," he gave the young boy a challenging look, "You´ve gotta defeat me first!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the Hokage´s house, the man himself stood and looked over his town. Iruka, bandaged from yesterday's affair, appeared just right behind him. "May I ask you something, Hokage?" he asked.<p>

"Ask away, Iruka," the Hokage responded.

"Have Naruto met up to registration?"

"Yes…"

Iruka then smiled a little, "I talked with him during dinner yesterday… he kept talking about how the town will show him respect, now that he´s a real ninja."

The Hokage sighed, "It probably won´t be that simple…" he cast his look downwards, "As you know, only the adults know who the demon fox was. I made a law stating not a soul may talk about it, and I made them follow the rule, strictly. So their children doesn´t know about it, giving Naruto and Torabu an advantage," he then reminisced the past, "The Fourth Hokage died fighting the demon fox. His final request was that the villagers looked at Naruto as a hero."

"As a hero…?" Iruka asked.

"The Fourth Hokage banished the demon into the navel of a newborn child, and sealed it. Naruto saved the town by becoming the Kyubi´s walking prison," the Hokage sighed, "But the adults saw this differently. And, sadly, have their attitude towards him passed on to their children," he then looked at Iruka, "Iruka, you know what…?"

"No, what?"

"Those who won´t acknowledge another person´s existence will look at that person with a look that is terribly cold. Because they don´t have a single emotion in their body,"

"Then what about Torabu?" Iruka changed the subject.

"That boy might look different from us and he might have a rioting attitude," the Hokage then smiled, "But he has a kind heart, and cares and respects his friends."

* * *

><p>"<em>There<em> they are!"

Naruto, Torabu and Konohamaru looked up and saw Ebisu standing on a branch, looking at them. _The demon fox! _he thought and gave Naruto a look full of hate and disgust.

Naruto noticed the look. _That look… he hates me… like everyone else… _he thought.

Ebisu jumped down and looked at Konohamaru. "It´s time to go home, grandchild," he said.

"NO! I wanna defy my grandpa, and soon I´ll defeat him and become Hokage myself!" the young boy yelled.

"Being Hokage demands social skills, a sense of duty, politeness, wisdom, honesty, mercy, patience and a thorough knowledge of many ninja techniques," Ebisu explained.

The young boy ignored him and performed the Sexy-Jutsu… and this time it worked! Standing were Konohamaru stood, was now a nude brunette teenage girl, this time with a good figure.

Ebisu was so shocked, that his jaw dropped. But other than that, he was fine.

The teenage girl transformed back into a surprised young boy. "No effect!" he said.

"W-W… WHAT KIND OF FOUL TRICKERY IS THIS!" Ebisu yelled, "I´m an honorable man! Those kinds of perverted tricks don´t work on me!" he then began pulling Konohamaru in his scarf.

"How ´bout we show him, Naruto?" Torabu proposed. Naruto nodded and then…

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" the two of them yelled, and then ten versions of both of them appeared!

The struggling student and teacher looked at them. "Wow! That´s so cool!" Konohamaru gawked at the sight.

Ebisu smirked and took a fighting stance. "Bah! Childs-play! I´m an elite ninja… not like that Mizuki…!"

"Transformation!" all of the clones roared and made hand-seals. Then all of the clones had performed the Sexy-Jutsu and were either making sexy poses, touching him seductively, or wooing and flirting with him!

Konohamaru gawked at this, the Hokage (who saw this through his crystal ball) groaned in annoyance at it, and Ebisu couldn´t handle this and passed out, nose bursting blood out.

The clones disappeared and the boys transformed back. "That´s the Harem-Jutsu!" they both said aloud.

* * *

><p>The Hokage groaned at this. "They combined the Shadow Clone technique with their 'erotic skill' and created another stupid Jutsu! With those stupid tricks, not even I could stand a chance. Hm…" he then noticed something in the ball.<p>

* * *

><p>"Dammit!" Konohamaru swore, "I couldn´t even defeat my teacher!"<p>

"You think it´s that easy?" Torabu asked, "If ya want the title of Hokage, the best ninja who everybody respects, then…"

"You need to go through a lot of pain first…" Naruto continued, "…and at times you´ll feel lonely and abandoned. But I found people who show me respect, but even that´s incredibly hard." Torabu smiled as Naruto went on, "So, you need to be prepared if you wanna be a Hokage: one that´s respected by anyone, without exceptions!" he turned around and smirked, "And one more thing: there´s no shortcuts!"

The young boy´s eyes widened at this information, as he remembered Naruto´s earlier: "_If you want to be Hokage, you´ve gotta defeat me first!_"

"You two think you´re know-it-alls, huh?" he then started, "Well hear this; from now on… we´re rivals!" he finished with a determined smirk.

The boys then smiled and chuckled. "Sadly, we´re one step ahead of ya," the cat-boy stated, "Starting tomorrow, we´re officially ninjas!"

"…But we´ll fight for that title, sooner or later," Naruto reassured, "So, start looking forward to it, Konohamaru! Believe it!" and with that, the three departed back towards the town.

* * *

><p>The Hokage smiled at the elder boy´s words. It seemed that his grandchild got some new and good friends… despite them being rowdy troublemakers.<p>

_I was right about the cat-boy, _he thought affirmably, _and I´m positive, the road is long before Naruto can make his dream come true._

* * *

><p>Torabu parted with the others and went home. After dinner and exercising, he decided to go to bed.<p>

_Tomorrow, I become a ninja… _and with that thought, he prepared to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>dopliss: There you go! Second chapter finished! It might be shorter (I wanted to also introduce the other ninjas), but it´s been a hard nights writing, this here. So see you next time!<strong>

dopliss: (stops writing) Good! All finished, time to eat!

(dopliss walks over to a fridge, opens it, but find it empty).

dopliss: (shocked) Where´s the food! (Sees Mizuki munching on a chicken wing) _**YOU!**_

Mizuki: O.O EEP! (Starts running)

dopliss: (to readers) see you later. (chasing Mizuki) GET BACK HERE, YOU!


	3. Chapter 3 Teaming up

**dopliss: Hi again. Here´s the third chapter, where we´ll meet Sasuke, the other team ninjas and two more of my characters. So start reading and let´s hope nothing goes wrong, (glares at Mizuki) **_**right?**_

**Mizuki: I said I´m sorry.**

**dopliss: Next time, DON´T eat all my food!**

* * *

><p>Naruto awoke the next morning with a yawn. Today was the day he had dreamt for. Today was the day he had longed for. Today… was the day he became a real ninja.<p>

He got out of bed, did his morning routine, ate his breakfast – consisting of instant-ramen and a glass of milk – got fully dressed and was now walking towards the school, with his ninja headband on his forehead. Everything was quiet until…

"GET BACK HERE, YOU!"

Looking at a crossroad, Naruto saw his troublemaking, cat-boy friend being chased by older ninjas. Chuckling to himself, he kept walking. _Good to see he´s up and awake, _he thought.

* * *

><p>Torabu was laughing out loud to himself. He had woken up early to make a prank before attending school, and by the looks of it, it worked.<p>

"Try and catch me!" he taunted his pursuers. _Unbelievable, to think they get so upset, just ´cause I poured salt in their morning tee._

He then spotted a crossroad, and decided to, literally, split up. He made his Shadow Clones, and they all went different directions. His group of pursuers split up in different groups; unknowingly that Torabu had split himself into three clones and transformed himself into a garbage can, in order to escape. He reverted back to normal and ran towards the school.

"Hah! It takes more than numbers to stop the king of pra…" he stopped talking when he saw something running towards him. It was a dog.

"EYARGH!" he screamed and jumped into a tree, faster than you can say "jump-scare".

When the dog was gone, he jumped down. "They don´t want Naruto in this town, but let those monsters run loose?" he wondered aloud, and resumed his running to school.

* * *

><p>A girl was herself on her way to the school. She had long bright pink hair, green eyes, and was quite fair skinned, as well. The only drawback with her beauty was her rather large forehead. She wore a red sleeveless cheongsam with white circular designs, tight dark green shorts, and used her ninja headband to accentuate her face.<p>

She was currently at home, setting her hair. She stopped and winked to herself when she was satisfied.

"Sakura, shouldn´t you be going?" her mother asked.

"I know, I´m on my way out now," she answered, a little annoyed. Meanwhile, Sakura´s inner hidden feelings said, "Sha! How long are you gonna look after me like a kid? I´m a ninja now!"

She was then going on the street towards the school, thinking to herself. _So, this is it. I´m not a student anymore. I´m now Sakura Haruno, a ninja._

When she passed the town´s flower shop, she then, unfortunately for her, met a person she hates. Ino Yamanaka, a skinny girl with blue eyes, and blonde hair kept in a ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. She wore a short purple vest like shirt with a raised collar, a purple skirt that was cut off on the sides and bandage on her stomach and legs. She also wore purple and white elbow warmers, and had her ninja headband around her waist like a belt.

"Good morning, Sakura," she greeted with a mean grin.

"Good morning, Ino," Sakura replied, also with a mean grin.

They both walked alongside each other towards school. "So, they actually let you graduate? What a surprise," Ino insulted.

"Those classes are ancient history, we´re both ninjas now and we´re both equal," Sakura retorted and looked at her rival with a frown, "I won´t lose to you, anymore."

Sakura then started to walk faster, and seeing this as a challenge, Ino went faster as well. It then went on to become a race, both contestants grunting in annoyance at each other.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in class, Naruto and Torabu had arrived, and while Torabu talked with one of the students, Naruto was giggling to himself in satisfaction.<p>

A student, with long jet-black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes, wearing a green lined mesh T-shirt under a short sleeved grey jacket with green edges and a circle with a line through it adorned on both sleeves and on the back, brown pants, blue sandals, and his ninja headband tied around his left arm, saw Naruto. "What´re you doing here? This is a place for ninjas, not for dropouts," he said.

Naruto pointed at his forehead, indicating his headband. "Oh yeah, do you see this? Open your eyes, Shikamaru, it´s a regulation headband," he boasted, "We´re gonna be training together, how do you like that?"

Shikamaru just looked at him, lazily. "It suits me, don´t it? It´s like it was made for me. Believe it!" Naruto went on.

A girl, seated a little away from him, having hime-cut dark blue hair, unusually white eyes with a tinge of lavender in them, wearing a cream-colored hooded jacket with a fire symbol on the upper right and left sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, and navy blue pants. She wore her headband around her neck.

_Naruto… you graduated after all, _she thought with a slight blush on her face, _I´m so glad!_

That´s when Sakura and Ino ran into class, struggling to get inside first. When both entered at the same time, they yelled, "I´m first!" and started panting.

"I win again, Sakura!" Ino boasted.

"Nah-ah! I was at least in front by a toe´s length!" Sakura bragged retaliating.

Both girls began to argue, while Naruto looked at one of them with a blush. _Sakura…! _he thought. He had – as you would´ve guessed by now – a crush on the pink-haired girl.

Speaking of which, said pink-haired girl then scouted the classroom, spotted Naruto, and ran towards his seat. "Hey, Sakura. How´s it go-" Naruto greeted.

"Move it!" the girl said impolitely, and pushed the boy out of her way. It was in fact not him she spotted, but another boy. "Hey, Sasuke," she nervously greeted.

Sasuke was a boy with spiky black hair with a tint of blue, onyx eyes, light skin, wearing a blue short sleeved shirt with a raised collar and his family crest on the back, white arm warmers, and white shorts. He adorned his headband, traditionally, on his forehead, and he was popular with the girls, despite his gloomy personality.

He glanced at her, uninterested. "Mind if I sit next to you?" she asked.

"Back off, Forehead," Ino interrupted rudely, "I´m sitting next to Sasuke!"

"I got here first!"

"I walked into the classroom before you did, everyone saw it," Ino then retaliated using their earlier argument.

As more girls joined into the seating argument, Sasuke minded them no more. _Clueless, _he thought.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in the Hokage´s chamber, the teacher ninjas gathered around his crystal ball, looking at an image of Sasuke.<p>

"The promising student Sasuke Uchiha… is that him?" one of them asked.

"Yes, he´s the one," the Hokage answered.

"He´s his clan´s only survivor," stated a female ninja.

"That´s right," the Hokage confirmed.

A ninja, with grey hair and brown eye being the only noticeable traits to spot on him – because he wore the standard high-ranking ninja outfit and a mask, that covered his jaw, nose and left eye – looked at the ball interested.

The image then shifted over to the squirreling girls and the still knocked-over Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki…" the ninja wondered aloud.

* * *

><p>Back in class, Naruto had recovered and jealous over Sasuke´s unwanted popularity.<p>

Said popular boy heard something, looked up, and saw Naruto standing on his table, crouched over and looking at him in the eyes. Naruto narrowed his eyes, while Sasuke let out a snort of annoyance.

"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled angrily, "Stop glaring at him!"

_I wonder why they´re all obsessed with him, _he thought, _Sasuke, Sasuke… what´s the big deal with this guy?_ While thinking this, said guy narrowed his eyes. Sparks almost burst between their looks.

The girls were cheering on Sasuke, encouraging him to punch his plaque.

What was Torabu doing during all this?

He was sitting in his seat – which was coincidently in front of Sasuke´s – and listened to a student´s story.

"Whoa, seriously?" the cat-boy asked in wonder and leaned back, pushing Naruto. "Oops, sorry," he looked back to apologize, and couldn´t believe his eyes – neither could the girls.

What happened was, due to the push, Naruto accidentally _kissed _Sasuke on the lips, causing the girls – especially Sakura – to flip. Meanwhile, her inner personality was outraged. "Sha! No fair! _I _was supposed to be Sasuke´s first kiss!"

The two boys quickly parted lips, and gagged at this. "Curse you, Naruto…" Sasuke swore.

"Sorry, dude! I didn´t mean to!" Torabu apologized, disgusted himself.

Naruto then sensed danger, and looked at the girls, who were ready to kill him. "Hey, that was an accident!" he defended. The girls didn´t listen and started beating him up.

* * *

><p>"As usual," the Hokage started, "Naruto is right in the middle of some kind of trouble."<p>

* * *

><p>Later, Iruka, now fully healed, prepared the class. "As of today, you´re now ninjas," he started, "You´ve faced many hard trials and hardships, but that´s nothing. It gets harder and far more difficult from here on out. You are now genin, first level ninjas. All genin will be grouped into three-man squads, and each squad will be lead by a jonin, an elite ninja."<p>

Naruto – looking harshly beat up – looked up at this. The same did Ino, Sakura and Torabu. _Three-man squads?_ they all thought.

The two girls shared challenging looks; Sasuke was bored by the idea of, in his own words, having two allies to slow him down. Naruto hoped to be with Sakura and not Sasuke, and Torabu was ready for anyone he teamed up with.

"Each squad is divided in strengths and abilities, so the members are equal in each team," Iruka started, "And another thing, team 6 and 7 will be taught under the same sensei, due to lack of teachers," and with that, he began dividing the teams.

A little while later… "Team 6: Torabu Maka; Sairento Josei, and Konran Reijingu."

Torabu looked at his two teammates. Sairento was a quiet girl with pale skin and raven-black hair. She wore a short black sleeveless cloak, crimson shorts, and the ninja headband around her right thigh, plus a face-concealing fox-mask. Nobody knew how she looks like underneath the mask.

Konran on the other hand, had spiky electric-blue hair set so the bangs were pointing forward and the rest pointing backwards, and had purple eyes. He wore a green T-shirt, azure pants, and the headband around his left shin. Many were interested in him, due to his knowledge of Konoha.

The three were now all looking at each other, and having different opinions about each other.

"Team 7;" Iruka introduced, "Naruto Uzumaki; Sakura Haruno…"

At that, Naruto cheered and Sakura hung her head in disappointment.

"…and Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka finished, causing the complete opposite to happen between the former two.

The girl with the dark-blue hair looked at Naruto disappointed. _I won´t be with Naruto then… _she thought and sighed.

"Next: Team 8: Hinata Hyuga…"

The girl perked up at hearing her name being spoken.

"…Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame."

Kiba was a boy with messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth, red markings on his cheeks, and sharp nails. He wore dark-grey pants that reached to his calves, and a grey hooded fur-lined coat with the hood up and covering his headband. Torabu didn´t like him because he had canine features and a small, white-furred, brown-nosed puppy, named Akamaru, with brown paches on its ears, near him.

Shino looked a lot more different from his aforementioned teammate. He was the tallest of the class, with bushy brown hair, pale skin, sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar, and sunglasses.

Sakura taunted Ino with her placement in the teams. "How did you get in his group?" she asked annoyed.

Sakura was silent. Her inner self however… not so much. "ka-ching! True love conquers all!" it boasted.

"I don´t get it," Shikamaru interjected, "What do you see in that guy? He´s not so special."

"You´re such a fool, Shikamaru," Ino retaliated, "Don´t you get it?"

"No I don´t get it, ´cause I´m not a girl."

Ino sighed. "You´re so full of yourself. Jealousy´s a terrible thing, I´d hate to be in your squad."

"Team 10;" Iruka went on, "Ino Yamanaka; Shikamaru Nara…"

Ino was surprised at this irony. "Didn´t you say something about hating being in my squad?" Shikamaru asked amused.

"…and Choji Akimichi."

Choji was a boy with a lot more robust physique than everyone else. He had brown hair, and swirl marks on his cheeks. He wore brown shorts, a long white scarf, a short sleeved green jacket over a white shirt with the kanji for food on it, ring earrings, a bandanna that reached around his head and hold the headband, and bandages around his legs and forearms. He was easily seen and heard, because he was eating a bag of chips.

Ino groaned in shock at this. _Not food-boy too!_

"Those are all the squads," Iruka finished.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto complained, "Why is a great ninja like me teamed up with that slug, Sasuke?"

"Sasuke had the best scores of all the graduating students," Iruka explained, "Naruto, you had the worst scores," that last line caused some students to laugh. "To create balance, we put the best student with the worst student."

Naruto was annoyed at this. "Just make sure not to get in my way, loser," Sasuke warned.

Team 7 was then arguing, until Iruka cleared his throat. "After lunch, you´ll meet your new jonin teachers. Until then, class dismissed."

* * *

><p>Torabu was walking outside after class, looking for his new teammates. He wanted to know more about them. He then spotted Sakura, and went over to her.<p>

"Oy, Sakura!" he greeted, "What do ya think about our teams tossed together?"

Sakura looked at him, not remembering noticing him before, until finally; "Oh yeah, you´re that Maka kid."

"Call me Torabu!" the cat-boy shrugged, "So, since our teams´ together, I wanna know more about you and the others. Except Naruto, since I know him already."

She shook her head. "Sorry, I don´t have time now. I´m looking for Sasuke," and with that, she left.

_What´s with that guy and girls?_ Torabu thought. He turned around, and spotted Sairento among the crowd. "Hey, Sairento!" he yelled and ran to catch up with her. She went into an alley, and when the cat-boy looked… she was gone.

"Where did she go?" he asked himself, while scratching his ears. He then left, not knowing the girl he chased was on the rooftop of a house, looking at him interested.

_An interesting boy,_ she thought.

* * *

><p>Sakura was still looking for her dream-boy. "I thought, since we´re in the same group, we could have lunch and get to know each other," she mumbled.<p>

"Hey, Sakura!" Naruto approached from behind her, "Since we´re in the same group, I thought maybe we could have lunch together and get to know each other."

Sakura turned around, and replied coldly, "Why would I have lunch with _you_? How can that thought even cross your mind?"

"But, we´re in the same group, so I thought…"

"Naruto, you´re annoying!" she finished and walked off in her search for Sasuke, leaving a let-down Naruto.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Team 10 were eating rice balls on a rooftop, while Ino explained the "ground rules".<p>

"All right, if we´re gonna be a group, then do everything I says, that´s the only way this works."

"Yeah, yeah," Shikamaru shrugged off while thinking, _It´s going after her way, ´cause she throws a fit if she doesn´t._

"Why don´t you lead us to some BBQ, Ino?" Choji asked.

"Hopeless!" she groaned.

That´s when they saw Sasuke inside a house, leaning against an open window, and Naruto sneaking up along the outer wall. Naruto then jumped into the window and surprise attacked the other boy, while Team 10 watched.

"Naruto!" Sasuke hissed.

"Pipe down!" Naruto retorted.

"Naruto," Ino started, "if you as much as touch him, you´re on my enemy-list forever!"

The struggle was heard by the team, until it simmered down. "What happened?" Ino asked.

Inside, Sasuke was standing over a beaten and bound Naruto, with nary a scratch on him. "Hmph. Nice try," he said and left through the window.

"He beat Naruto without breaking a sweat!" Shikamaru said impressed.

"What´d you expect?" Ino replied calmly, "Naruto against my boy Sasuke, no contest."

* * *

><p>Walking around the street, Konran spotted a pair of white cat ears sticking out of the crowd of people walking. He walked up to the cat-boy and asked, "You´re Torabu, my new teammate, right?"<p>

"Yup, that´s me!" Torabu replied cheerfully.

"Great, how about we go talk and get to know each other somewhere?"

"Sure!" and with that, they were off.

* * *

><p>Sakura sat on a bench, having just finished her lunch, and reassured herself with, that Sasuke was still her teammate, and they could get to know each other later. That´s when she spotted him, leaning on a tree. He looked at her with a smirk, and she blushed. <em>Sasuke! He´s looking right at me! Oh, the look in his eyes…<em>

Her dream were about to come true. Sasuke complimenting her forehead, her most hated part, and kissing her… But she thought it to never happen.

"Sakura… your forehead is so wide and charming…" he then said, much to her surprise. He walked up to her and continued. "It makes me feel like kissing it."

Sakura was silently blushing, while her inner self was ecstatic. "Ka-ching! She scores! Fairytales do come true, after all!"

"Just kidding," he then said, much to her disappointment, "That´s the kind of things that Naruto would say," he then sat down beside her, "I wanna ask you something."

She looked at him as he asked. "Naruto… what do you think of him?"

"He knows about my feelings and want to get in my way," she partially lied, "He enjoys having me feel that way. Naruto… he doesn´t understand one single thing about me. He´s just annoying. All I really want… is for you to understand me, Sasuke, that´s all."

"You just want me to accept you?"

She blushed, "Yes, that´s how I feel. I´d do anything for that," and she started leaning forward, her eyes closed and lips pursed.

Sasuke stared in slight shock, his heart beating.

* * *

><p>Back at the two boys´ fight scene, inside, bound and gagged lay… Sasuke?<p>

_I let my guard down… _he mentally cursed.

What really happened was, when Naruto was bound, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced with a log! Sasuke, surprised at this, didn´t expect being blindsided by Naruto and his Shadow Clones.

_In class, he can´t even make a full clone… _he wondered, _How could he make a Shadow Clone Jutsu right after a Replacement Jutsu?_

* * *

><p>Naruto, still in his disguise, were prepared to kiss Sakura on the lips. <em>I understand now, why I like her so much, <em>he thought, _I finally understand._

Their lips were almost touching, but his stomach had other ideas. Quickly standing up and running away, he assured Sakura, "I´ll be right back!"

Sakura, in the meantime, thought that "Sasuke" was shy.

Naruto quickly found what he needed… a toilet. He entered it, sat on it, let loose, and transformed back, grumbling about why it had to happen right then and there. He was also upset over, that she thinks HE was annoying and not Sasuke.

_I know what to do! I´ll make Sasuke act like a douche-bag!_

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Sakura saw Sasuke – the real one – walk in her direction.<p>

"Sasuke, there you are!" she squealed, "I hope you´re ready now, so let´s get to it!"

She was then surprised to see Sasuke walk pass her. He then stopped and looked at her through the corner of his eyes. "Where´s Naruto?" he asked, possibly looking for vengeance.

"Naruto just picks fights with you," she lied disappointed, "You know why he´s so annoying? He wasn´t raised right. He didn´t have a mother or a father, no one to teach him right from wrong. Think about it; he just does whatever comes into his head."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as she continued. "If I did things like Naruto, forget it! My parents would get mad and I´ll get in trouble. Too bad Naruto´s not like that. but if you don´t have parents, how would you know?"

He was angry at her now. She dug into a very touching topic for him: no parents.

"He´s selfish and bratty, he´s always alone," she finished.

"Alone…? Isolated," he said, and regarded her, "It´s not about having parents or being scolded… you have no idea how it feels to be alone."

"Why are you saying that?"

He looked at her and answered, "Because you´re annoying."

That statement shocked her, and she watched silently as he walked away.

* * *

><p>"That´s a good plan of action," Naruto said aloud, still on the toilet, "Then what am I still doing here?" and with that, he exited the restroom.<p>

Upon running back towards Sakura, he saw Sasuke casually walking towards him. Naruto immediately stopped and yelled, "How did you break loose?"

Calmly, he replied, "I used the Escape-Jutsu. It was no sweat. Why did you tie me up?"

"I was trying to use my moves on you, nothing else!" Naruto replied, did the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and prepared to strike Sasuke…

…fortunately for the latter, the Narutos´ upset stomachs acted up again, and all had to go to the bathroom.

Sasuke only looked on with a shocked expression, as the clones struggled with each other to get in first. "What a loser," he said and left.

* * *

><p>During all this, the cat-boy and his new friend were eating lunch at the Ramen Ichiraku.<p>

"Oh, so _that´s_ your fighting-style!" Konran stated.

"Yeah, surprised?" Torabu replied.

Konran laughed, "I should´ve known, myself."

"…May I sit here…?"

The boys looked at the person that spoke, and saw their third teammate, Sairento. "Sure, take a seat!" the troublemaking ninja answered kindly.

The girl sat and ordered to herself. "We were getting to know each other," Konran started, "So, tell us something about you."

"…" The girl said nothing.

"What´s wrong? Cat got your tongue?"

Torabu replied jokingly, "I know _I_ don´t have it."

"…" Still no response.

"C´mon, at least say something about you, so that we know!" Konran pleaded.

Her order arrived, she ate it silently, but before she left, she said, "I don´t like weakness," leaving the two boys stunned.

* * *

><p>Sakura still sat on the bench, thinking about what Sasuke said. <em>I´m annoying? That´s what he said... I get it now; this must be how Naruto feels.<em> "I shouldn´t have treated him like that. Next time I see him, I´m gonna be nice," she agreed with herself.

Speaking of which, said person came walking towards her, clutching his stomach and wondered what he ate. She tried her best at making a friendly smile at him, stood up, and greeted him, "Hey, Naruto, let´s walk back to class together!"

"Did you really say that?" asked Naruto. She laughed awkwardly. _Wait a minute, _Naruto thought, _she never smiles at _me_ like that. That must be Sasuke in disguise, trying to get back at me!_

Not wanting to be tricked, he prepared a hand-seal…

…and his stomach violently churned again. "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING AGAIN?" he roared and ran for the bathroom… again.

Sakura, seeing this, returned to her original idea of Naruto: that he was an idiotic brat.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at Naruto´s apartment, the Hokage and the grey-haired jonin inspected the place, and the eating table, holding the remains of the breakfast.<p>

"So this is where Naruto lives," said the jonin.

"Yes," the Hokage replied, "He´ll be on your team along with Torabu, Sairento, Konran, Sakura and Sasuke of the Uchiha clan. Good luck, you´ll need it."

The jonin looked at the milk carton on the table. "This milk is way past its expiration date," he noted and shook it, hearing a thick liquid moving, "If he sipped at this, he´ll be on the bathroom all day. Seems like this kid´s just one big problem."

* * *

><p>The jonin´s assumption about the milk was right, for meanwhile sat Naruto on the toilet, emptying his stomach. While groaning, he wondered one thing… "AM I GONNA SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE ON THE POOOOOOT?"<p>

* * *

><p>dopliss: MWAH! Another chapter in the bag! And a lot of characters introduced as well. Whew! Well, here´s two new bios for you!<p>

_**Name: **__Sairento Josei._

_**Age: **__12_

_**Author´s nickname: **__The mute girl._

_**Gender: **__Female._

_**Race: **__Human._

_**Height: **__1.49 M._

_**Weight: **__38 kg._

_**Appearance: **__Red eyes (hidden behind her mask), raven-black hair, pale skin._

_**Clothing: **__Short black sleeveless cloak, crimson shorts, headband around right thigh, face-concealing fox-mask._

_**Abilities: **__Ninja-skills, healing Jutsu, calm mind._

_**Weaknesses: **__Bad social-skills, can´t handle weakness._

_**Relatives:**__ Hadona Doryoku (father), Kanashii Josei (mother)_

_**Bio:**__ Living a painful life of solitude, she focused all her time on training herself. Being trained by her parents, she loves and entrusts only them, and will always follow their clan´s laws and rules. Being mysterious and cold, making friends is hard for her, and she gets upset at people and herself showing _any_ signs of weakness, surprisingly, screaming their head off or inflicting pain on herself. She does have a fondness of cute things, though._

_**Name: **__Konran Reijingu._

_**Age:**__ 13_

_**Author´s nickname: **__The shadowy ally._

_**Gender: **__Male._

_**Race: **__Human._

_**Height:**__ 1.47 M._

_**Weight: **__46 kg._

_**Appearance: **__Spiky electric-blue hair, purple eyes, Caucasian skin._

_**Clothing:**__ Green T-shirt, azure pants, headband around left shin._

_**Abilities: **__Ninja-skills, remarkably big knowledge of Konoha, can perform hand-seals with one hand and multiple Jutsus at once._

_**Weaknesses:**__ Can get too cocky, overuses chakra._

_**Relatives: **__None known._

_**Bio: **__Strong, kind and a good-looking chick-magnet, he got, pretty much, what every boy wants to be. Despite his cocky attitude in combat, he knows how to keep his enemies on their toes. Adopted into the town at the age of 6, he made sure he felt home, and befriended people. His capabilities at performing jutsus are also noteworthy, since he can use only one hand to perform the hand-seals._

Mizuki: That Naruto sure do have a _potty_-mouth.

dopliss: Let´s hope he never becomes a _pot_-head.

Both: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

dopliss: Alright, enough bad puns, we´ll end up hurting the readers.

**A/n:** For Torabu´s lack of race and relatives in his bio; his race is human and his family is unknown and possibly deceased. Also, I apologize for the bad puns.


	4. Chapter 4 Kakashis test

**dopliss: Here´s chapter 4! Now it´s time for Team 6 and 7´s tests, and it´s different from the main series.**

**Mizuki: Really? Different how?**

**dopliss: Just read and find out.**

**Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto… forgot to say that last chapter. **

**A/n: Naruto fans may be disappointed.**

* * *

><p>Lunch was over, and all teams were busy meeting their jonin teachers. Teams 6 and 7 were also waiting patiently… and were yet still.<p>

"He´s late…" grumbled an annoyed Naruto, while looking out of the door. He kept scouting, but nothing.

The other boys were calm, Sairento´s face was (obviously) unreadable, and Sakura was annoyed at the above-mentioned. "Naruto," she started, "just sit down!"

"I don´t want to," he replied, "How come our teacher´s the only one that´s late? I wanna start the action, believe it! The other teams have already met their teachers, and are possibly going on an adventure now."

"We know, okay?" she then noticed Naruto pulling a stool over to the door. "Hey, what´re you doing?"

Naruto was putting a chalkboard eraser on top of the door, giggling to himself. "Naruto!" Sakura scolded.

"That´s what he get for coming late," Naruto proudly replied.

Torabu shook his head in disappointment. "You´re gonna do _that_,Naruto?" he asked bluntly.

"See, Torabu´s agreeing with me," stated Sakura.

"A chalkboard eraser?" the cat-boy continued, "Couldn´t you do any better?"

While the pink-haired girl was shocked over hearing that statement, Naruto replied, "Sorry, I couldn´t."

"You know you´ll get trouble, you shouldn´t do that," she replied, but her inner thoughts begged to differ, and said, "Sha! I love stuff like this!"

Sasuke and Sairento decided to ignore this, while Konran was reading a scroll. "Our teacher´s a jonin, an elite ninja," the mute girl stated, "Do you think he´ll fall for that?"

"Yeah, Sairento´s right, you´re so clueless, Naruto!" Sakura agreed.

Just then, as someone approached the door, everyone looked at the grey-haired jonin enter… and getting hit by the eraser. While Naruto bragged about his amateur plan working, looked the other young ninjas at this, surprised. "I´m sorry, Sensei!" Sakura started apologizing, "He just wouldn´t listen! I´d never do something like that!" her inner self, however, "PERFECT SHOT!"

"Next time, Naruto, do something bigger," Torabu advised.

The other three ninjas just shrugged. _He actually _fell _for that trick? _Sasuke thought, _Is this guy really a jonin?_

The jonin picked up the eraser, a lazy expression in his visible eye, and said, "Hmmm, how can I put this?" he fingered his chin thoughtfully, "My first impression of this group: you´re a bunch of idiots!" Said idiots then all frowned at that statement.

* * *

><p>The jonin lead them to the building´s rooftop. "Alright," he began, "why don´t you introduce yourselves, one at the time?"<p>

"Introduce ourselves?" Konran wondered, "What´re we supposed to say?"

The jonin shrugged. "Things you like; things you hate; your dreams and goals; hobbies. Things like that."

"Why don´t you start, so we can see how it works?" Naruto suggested.

"Me? I´m Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and hate: I don´t feel like telling you that." That statement surprised the young boys and girls, as he continued, "Dreams for the future: never really thought about that. As for hobbies; I have lots of hobbies."

"He didn´t answer anything," stated the cat-boy, "he only told us his name."

"Okay, your turn. You on the right, you first."

Naruto looked up, while fiddling with his headband, "Believe it, I´m Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant-ramen in a cup, and REALLY like the ramen Iruka-sensei bought me at the ramen shop. I hate the three-minute wait when pouring ramen in a cup. My hobbies are eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them, and my biggest dream: to become the next Hokage! Then people will start treating me like I´m somebody, somebody important."

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow at that last statement, yet still looked bored. _He´s grown up in a very interesting way, _he thought. "Alright, next."

Torabu stood up. "I´m Torabu Maka. I like making pranks, and using them on people. My hobbies include mentioned pranks, and training. And I hate," here his expression darkened a lot, "Dogs!"

"Dogs… why?" practically everyone asked.

"´Cause they´re little monsters, THAT´S why!" the cat-boy then calmed down, "And I dream of becoming a great ninja! So great, that people will write stories about me!"

_Interesting little boy, indeed, _Kakashi thought. "Who´s next?"

"I´m Sakura Haruno," the pink-haired girl started, "One I like… I mean the person I like is…" she blushed and looked at (no figure) Sasuke, "My hobbies is… err…" she giggled and looked away from him, "My dream for the future is…" she had to stop herself from squealing out loud.

"And…" asked their sensei, slightly peeved, "What do you hate?"

Not thinking properly, she answered, "Naruto!" causing said boy to almost cry in shocked surprise.

_Girls her age are more interested in boys than in ninja training, _Kakashi noted, "Next."

"My name is Sairento Josei. I like training, and don´t think of it as a hobby, but a necessity. My actual hobbies are focusing and planning ahead of time. I can´t tell you my dreams, because I don´t have any, neither sleep ones or future ones. And the one thing I can´t stand: _weakness_!" she said the last word with a venomous voice.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow again. _Likes to train a lot, huh? She might be one of the best in my group. _"Who´s next?"

"Konran Reijingu," he presented himself, "I like a lot, and hates little. My hobby is honing my skills, and my dream," he chuckled, "don´t have one, yet."

_A rather bold boy,_ Kakashi then looked at Sasuke, "Last one."

Sasuke didn´t move an inch. "My name… is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don´t particularly like much," that statement got the others´ attention, "What I have is not a dream, because I _will _make it a reality. I´m going to restore my clan, and _kill _a certain someone!" he finished with a cold, emotionless tone.

They all stared at him, Naruto with nervousness. _Gee, I hope he doesn´t mean me!_

Sakura thought with admiration. _Sasuke´s so HOT!_

The three other genin thought the same thing: _Killing someone as a goal… I pity him._

And their sensei thought: _Just as I thought._ "Good… you´re all unique, and with your own personal ideals. We´ll start your first mission tomorrow."

"Okay," Naruto replied, "What kinda mission do we have?"

"It´s a task… that the seven of us will do together."

"Anything else?" asked the troublemaking ninja.

"A survival exercise."

The genin were surprised. "I thought we were going to do missions, not train," replied Sairento, "We did that to get here."

"It´s different from your previous training."

Konran asked, "So, what kind of training is it, then?"

Kakashi just chuckled. "Hey hold on," started Sakura, "that´s a normal question, what´s so funny?"

"Well," he began, "if I tell you the answer, you´re not going to like it." He then said, "Out of 18 students, only 9 of them will pass and become genin, and the rest will be weeded out and sent back to the school. And the chance that you´ll fail, is at least 66%."

That bit of news hit them like solid bricks, and they were all on their toes. "See, didn´t I tell you, you wouldn´t like it?" their sensei asked with a tint of humor in his voice.

The cat-boy was angry. "But we worked so hard to come so far!" he fumed, "What was the big deal ´bout the graduation exam, anyway?"

"That was to select candidates who _might_ become genin… or not. That´s how it is. I decide if you pass or fail. Meet me at the designated spot at 6:00 Am., and bring your ninja gear."

The young ninjas tensed up, and were determined to pass the test, no matter what! "You´re dismissed," stated Kakashi, "And one more thing: skip your breakfast tomorrow or you´ll puke!"

* * *

><p>Early next morning out in the forest, the six ninjas were assembling, and greeting each other with yawns. They then stood in that spot and waited… so long, the sun rose higher in the sky, and the day became brighter.<p>

They were getting impatient, and it was nearing noon, when finally, Kakashi arrived. "Good morning," he greeted, "Ready for your first mission?"

Four out of six of the young ninjas (the remaining two: Sasuke and Sairento) yelled angrily at their sensei, YOU´RE LATE!"

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way," he casually explained, much to the four´s annoyance. "Well," he cleared his throat, "let´s get started."

He walked over to a tree stump, and set a clock on it, the clock indicating 10:07 Am. "The clock is set for noon," he explained, and took three small bells out from his pocket, "Your teams get different assignments. Team 7, you each need to get one bell each," he went over to Team 6, and gave each of them a bell, "while Team 6 must hold onto the bells. If the members of Team 7 can´t get them by noon, or if Team 6 members lose their bell, you´ll go without lunch," he then pointed at some big poles, "You´ll be tied around those poles, and forced to watch me and the remaining members eat lunch."

The ninjas now knew why they´ve been told not to eat breakfast: so missing lunch would be harder on them. In any case, someone will get tied up and forced to starve. "Those who fail," Kakashi started, "will get sent back to the school. Then again, an entire team might flunk on this test and sent back, so think wisely. You may use any weapons, including shuriken. If you´re not prepared to kill, you will lose."

"But those weapons are too dangerous, sensei!" Sakura interjected.

Kakashi looked at Naruto. "Class clowns are usually the weakest link. No big threat. Lowest scores: Losers." Naruto tensed up at that. "When I say go, you start."

The two teams glared at each other. Naruto looked at a slightly saddened Torabu; Sakura glared daggers at Sairento´s mask, and Konran looked at Sasuke with mock-cockiness.

"Get ready," Kakashi started, "and… BEGIN!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the Hokage and Iruka was talking privately in the Hokage´s chamber. "Iruka, what did you wish to see me about?" the village leader asked, "I don´t think you merely wanted to have tea with me, did you?"<p>

"Naruto´s been assigned to squad 7," Iruka began, "The jonin of that group, how strong is he?"

"Kakashi, you mean? You are concerned about him?"

"I am. I heard a rumor about his training methods."

The Hokage reached into his robes, and took out a book. "What´s this?" Iruka asked.

"All the trainees who was assigned to him," he answered, "Those who passed and those who failed."

"May I?" Iruka then opened the book, and looked in it. What he saw shocked him to no end. "This… This is…!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the fight was on.<p>

Torabu was dodging Naruto´s attacks with difficulty. He then leaped away, and charged towards his friend, who jumped and performed an airborne roundhouse kick, that Torabu ducked under and made an upwards-moving crescent-kick, that hit its target´s head square on. Naruto retaliated by landing on his feet, then dashing forward, and delivering a punch to the cat-boy´s stomach, followed up with a head-butt. When the prankster ninja regained his bearings, and locked arms with his friend and opponent. "To think, it´ll end like this, me and my best friend fighting against each other, just to become ninjas!" Torabu grunted through gritted teeth.

"Yeah! Too bad, but I need that bell to be closer to becoming Hokage! I won´t let you stop me!" Naruto replied.

He then jumped back, and sent a strong punch into the cat-boy´s face, only for a puff of smoke to appear and reveal Torabu´s been replaced by a log! Wide-eyed, Naruto looked around to find his adversary, who was right behind him. Unseen, Torabu prepared a sneak-attack. _You know your Taijutsu, Naruto, _he praised Naruto´s hand-to-hand combat skills, _but how do you take this?_ he then folded his hands together, lining his index and middle fingers, and rushed forward towards his friend.

"Take this!" he roared when he was close enough, "Hidden Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu:" he placed his lined fingers at Naruto´s rectum, using his energy to give the attack more "oomph" and, "One Thousand Years of Death!" he fired a screaming (and violated) Naruto into the air and landing in a lake!

Kakashi witnessed this, while reading his favorite pornography "Make-Out Paradise", and chuckled. "He seems to know my ultimate humiliation technique. I´m impressed."

Naruto was far from beaten, and decided to attack from the water, throwing two shuriken, that flied out of the water and almost hit the surprised cat-boy.

* * *

><p>"It… can´t be…!" Iruka marveled, "This is even worse than the rumors!"<p>

"Kakashi´s tests may be more difficult than the others," the Hokage assured.

"A _bit _more difficult? Not a single student has ever _passed_ his test!"

"That´s true. They didn´t live up to Kakashi´s standards, so they were all… eliminated."

* * *

><p>Sasuke had his own difficulties with Konran. Each time he threw something at the keeper of the bell, Konran would just deflect it with <em>one <em>kunai. After wasting 10 shuriken, Sasuke went in for a close offensive. Konran jumped into a tree, and mocked him. "So, that is all that the 'best' student can do? I´m highly disappointed."

"You haven´t seen all I can do, yet," Sasuke replied, and made hand-seals.

* * *

><p>Sakura had it a lot harder than her teammates. Sairento was no pushover, and she had proven it, by making some cuts on her opponent's fair skin.<p>

Sakura tried to get close enough, and steal the bell while distracting her adversary, but it was futile. Sairento was too fast for her, and was getting bored of this foolish girl. "I´ll end it here," she stated, made a hand-seal, and made the two clones of her hold Sakura, while the original choked her until she passed out. "Take her along," she ordered her clones, and went back to the pillars. _Easy._

* * *

><p>Naruto had climbed out off the water, and fought some more against Torabu. Both were now beaten and exhausted. "Give up," the cat-boy panted, "I won´t back down to ya!"<p>

"Right back at you!" Naruto replied exhausted, "I´ll never stop… not until I´m the next Hokage!"

"I wanna pass, too. So give up, and go back to school."

"No way!" Naruto breathlessly snapped, "I´ve wasted years trying to get this far, and I won´t give up! So until I got that bell from you, I´ll keep fighting you!"

Torabu was surprised at those words. His best friend wanted to pass so badly, that he was willing to fight him to the end. The cat-boy lowered his head, and made his decision. "Here," he took out his bell, and held it in front of his friend, "take it."

Naruto was surprised. "What? You´re just gonna give it to me? Why?"

"Our friendship´s not worth fighting over. I´ll gladly give it to you."

"But, you´ll be giving up your chance at becoming a ninja!"

"Better be your friend as a student, rather than your enemy as a ninja," he finished with a smile.

"I… I can´t accept it."

Kakashi then jumped in between them. "I know a way to settle this," he replied.

"Really? How?" the young boys asked.

Their sensei took the bell and said, "You both fail this test," and then the boys simultaneously screamed, "WHAT?"

* * *

><p>Sasuke had finished the hand-seals and was ready to fire his attack. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he yelled and blew a huge ball of flame, heading right towards an unprepared Konran! He wanted to run, but it was too late… he got hit and incinerated!<p>

"That was an example for a Ninjutsu, chakra turned into deadly skills and abilities," he breathed, and looked at the crater his fireball had made.

"Then look at _this_ example," a voice sounded behind him. He turned around, and – astonished – saw Konran, not a single sign of being burned on him! "Genjutsu, illusion skills," he continued, gave Sasuke an uppercut, and then roundhouse kicked him into a tree, knocking him unconscious. He then carried him back to the pillars.

* * *

><p>When the two unconscious ninjas later awoke, the first thing they saw was their opponents, Sairento and Konran, both standing with their backs turned against them.<p>

"You!" Sasuke prepared himself, "This time, I´ll get that bell!"

Konran laughed. "3, 2, 1, and… TIME!"

"Wait, what?" asked Sakura groggily.

"You ran out of time," answered Sairento, and showed them the ringing clock, both of its hands pointing at 12.

"DAMN!" Sasuke swore, "Did our team completely lose?"

"Not really," Naruto´s and Torabu´s voices replied. The two newly awakened ninjas looked, and saw the former two tied to two of the pillars.

"Torabu gave up his bell and Naruto refused to accept it, so they both failed the test," explained Kakashi.

A growling sound was then heard from several persons. "Oh… stomachs growling, huh?" teased the jonin, "About the test, I´ve decided not to return you to school, after all."

Smiles appeared on Torabu´s and Team 7´s faces. "D-Does that mean we…?" the former asked ecstatic.

"Yes," their sensei continued, "You´re being dropped from the program, permanently!"

The six young ninjas´ faces turned from joy to shock at that.

* * *

><p>"Unbelievable…!" Iruka muttered, "Kakashi has never passed a single student! He failed them all!"<p>

"Iruka," the Hokage began, "they are still young. It might be too dangerous for them to go up against such dangers. However, Kakashi was correct about the ones he failed."

* * *

><p>"Drop us from the program?" Naruto yelled, "Then we´ll never become ninjas! You said if we failed we had to go back to the school, you can´t just change your mind like that!"<p>

"I can, because you don´t act like ninjas," Kakashi started, "you act like brats."

That statement angered Sasuke, and he charged towards his sensei. The attack was futile, as the jonin, in a matter of seconds, had the attacking boy on the ground, and sat on him. "You only think about yourself," he then said, ignoring Sakura´s yelling about letting Sasuke go, "You don´t know how to be a ninja, you thinks it´s easy, don´t you? Why do you think we put you on squads? did you think about THAT for a moment?" his voice was becoming bitter.

"What do ya mean?" asked Torabu.

"What I mean, is what this exercise is all about. You didn´t get it."

"What it´s about?"

"Yes, that´s what determines whether you pass this test, or not."

"But…" Sakura started, "I wanted to ask you that from the very beginning."

"Think about it for a moment. Why would we put you in teams of three?"

"How would WE know?" asked Naruto confused, "You made the rules, not us!"

"It´s so basic: TEAMWORK!" That shocked Team 7. They never realized this. "That´s what I mean," Kakashi continued, "but it´s too late now. If you all came after one of Team 6 at the time, you might have been able to take the bells. Well, anyway, it´s over."

"But you sent two teams up against each other," Sakura added, "one of them wouldn´t have passed."

"Exactly. I purposely put you against each other. I wanted to see if you could overcome that, and find benefits for your teams, not yourselves. Any genin should have a natural feel for teamwork, but apparently, only Team 6 had that."

Torabu looked confused. "What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Your team, involuntarily but any less, led the opponents apart from each other, so they couldn´t possibly gang up on a single one of you. But it never crossed Team 7´s mind. Sakura, you were obsessed with Sasuke, who was gone, while you didn´t help Naruto, who was right in front of you. Naruto, you do everything on your own. EVERYTHING! And you, Sasuke, thought the others were so far beneath you, you saw them as worthless. Arrogance…" Kakashi sighed, "The cause for us putting you into teams is NOT to train and learn individually, but to work together and trust each other. Every ninja understands this; when individuals put themselves above the team, this can lead to failure, and death."

Kakashi then took a kunai and held it at Sasuke´s throat. "For example: Sakura, kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!" he threatened.

Both former mentioned students (especially the latter) looked shocked and panicked. "That´s what happens," the jonin then removed the kunai, making Team 7 sigh out in relief.

"Oh boy, that was really scary…" Sakura sighed relieved.

"The enemy takes a hostage, forces you to take a tough choice, and someone ends up dead!" Kakashi´s tone dripped with poison, "On every mission, your life is on the line."

Kakashi then walked over to a big blue stone. "Have you noticed this stone? What´s engraved on it?" he asked, "They´re all ninjas, that served to protect and honor the village."

"That´s it!" Naruto exclaimed, "I decided I should have MY name engraved on that stone! I´m not gonna live for nothing and die like a dog, I´m gonna be a hero! A hero!"

"They´re a special kind of heroes…" said Kakashi, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"What kind of special?" asked a now free Torabu. He got himself free by wrapping his tail around a kunai, and cutting off the ropes.

Kakashi looked at the cat-boy in surprise, before answering him. "They´re all KIA (Killed in Action). They all died."

Everyone went silent after that statement. Kakashi then broke the silence. "Many names among those were my closest allies and friends."

The younger ninjas were all sad. Kakashi then turned around. "Alright, I´ll give you another chance, but I´ll make it much harder for you. Eat up your lunch so you´ll have strength, but DON´T give Naruto any. And if anyone tries to feed him, that person immediately fails," he then started to walk off.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Sairento started, "Did we in Team 6 pass our test?"

"We´ll see…" was the only response she got.

* * *

><p>"I´m leaving…" Iruka bade goodbye.<p>

"Iruka, listen to me," the Hokage started, "whether they pass or fail, do not blame Kakashi."

"…Right…" Iruka sighed.

* * *

><p>All of the students, except Naruto, were eating Kakashi´s boxed lunches, containing rice, sardine, and beef. Naruto´s growling stomach broke the silence often, but the headstrong ninja kept stating he could take it. Sasuke looked at him, and pitied him. "Here…" he said, and gave Naruto his remains of the boxed lunch.<p>

"What?" Sakura exclaimed, "Sasuke, you can´t do that, you heard what the sensei said!"

"Kakashi isn´t here and can´t see us. If we need to work as a team, Naruto must be in good condition."

Sakura wondered over this, and decided also to give Naruto her lunch remains. Team 6 joined in on this too. Naruto was happy that Sakura and his friends gave him their food, at the risk of being failed.

Meanwhile, Kakashi leaned on a tree a little distance away, aware of all that was happening.

"Thanks a lot guys…!" Naruto was at the brink of crying. This was one of the nicest things his friends have actually done for him. And to think, he was actually being fed the food, because he was still bound.

Then suddenly, a big puff of smoke and a strong wind appeared before them, and within all of that, was a _very_ angry Kakashi. "_**YOU!"**_ he roared. The ninjas braced themselves from the powerful gust of wind, while their sensei went on. "You broke the rules, now it´s time for your punishment!" he made some hand-seals, and thunder started to rumble. "Any last words?"

While Team 7 was stunned in fear, Torabu stepped forward and yelled, "We just did what you said: work together as a team, and helping each other!"

"We´re all in these teams, and we´ll stand up to anything!" Sasuke joined in.

"Yeah, that´s right!" said Sakura, joining in on it, as well, "We all gave our lunch to him, because we´re a team!"

Naruto was surprised at his friends, defending him like that. "Yeah, believe it! It´s true!" he added.

"You´re all a team… _That´s _your excuse?" he said, his voice dripping with menace.

The six of them were prepared for anything their sensei might do…

…well except for him suddenly smiling and saying, "You passed."

They were very surprised at that. "How did we pass?" asked Konran.

"You´re the first teams that passed the test. Every other team did everything I said to them, and fell into all of my traps. A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world, those who break rules are scum, true that, but… those that abandon their friends… are worse than scum."

The young ninjas were all happy over having passed the test, but Naruto, who was on the verge of tears, said this, "You know… he´s really a cool guy."

Kakashi´s voice was then cheerful. "The test is over… everyone pass! Teams 6 and 7 start their first official mission tomorrow! Let´s go home," and with that, he gave a "thumps up" to celebrate.

Everyone was then walking towards Konoha, heading home…

…without noticing they forgot something… or rather someone still bound to a pole. "YOU GUYS FORGOT TO UNTIE MEEEEE!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.

* * *

><p>dopliss: That was a long and complicated chapter for me to write… But now Team 6 and 7 are official! See you next time!<p>

Mizuki: To think, Kakashi´s first appearance and he didn´t get to show off.

dopliss: Don´t worry folks, he´ll get his time in the spotlight in a few chapters.

A/n: Okay, I know Sasuke didn´t summon a fireball in the anime, but how else would you create that crater? Certainly not by blowing flames at the ground!


	5. Chapter 5 To the hidden mist village

**dopliss: Alright! Time to start the Land of Waves arc. And don´t worry, I´ll make sure the filler won´t be tedious.**

**Mizuki: Does that mean you´ll skip the filler?**

**dopliss: No, it means I´ll **_**speed up **_**the filler. Commence!**

**Disclaimer: If Naruto was mine, which it isn´t, there wouldn´t be as much filler.**

**A/n: To the Naruto fans I might disappoint; pardon.**

* * *

><p>The day was calm and quiet in the woods. The only things that could disturb the peace is the wildlife lurking around. Speaking of lurking around, Team 7 was also out there, but in hiding.<p>

"Sasuke, I´m at point B," sounded Sasuke´s voice over the team´s headset communicator.

"Sakura, I´m at point C," replied Sakura.

"Naruto, I´m at point A, believe it," stated… you get the picture.

"You´re slow, Naruto," said Kakashi, "Okay, Team 7," suddenly, something leaped through the forest, "Target in sight! It´s changing location!"

The target dashed, and hid in a bush. The young ninjas poked their heads out from behind trees. "Over there…!" whispered Naruto through the communication device.

The ninjas sneaked closer to the target´s hiding spot, making sure not to be spotted. "What´s your distance from the target?" asked Kakashi through the device.

"5 meters. I´m ready, just give me the signal," answered Naruto.

"Me too," concurred Sasuke.

"So am I," agreed Sakura.

"Okay…" Kakashi started, "NOW!" he then ordered.

The ninjas dashed toward the target, the latter not prepared for the former. Naruto caught it, and it was revealed to be… a small cat. "I got him, I got him!" shouted Naruto, as the cat viciously hissed and scratched at him.

"Does the target have a ribbon on its right ear?" asked Kakashi.

"Affirmative. Positive id," replied Sasuke.

"Very good. Lost pet Tora captured. Mission complete."

Naruto´s voice then almost deafened Kakashi´s ear, as he yelled, "COULDN´T WE GET A BETTER MISSION THAN THIS? I HATE CATS!"

"You´re friends with Torabu, a cat-boy."

"He´s more human than cat."

* * *

><p>Later, in Konoha, at a building near the school, Team 7 had returned with Tora to deliver him back to his owner, an overweight woman. "My poor little Tora, mommy was so worried about you," she said happily while cuddling Tora against her face, much to the cat´s chagrin. The woman was identified as the wife of the Land of Fire´s Daimyo (a feudal lord), Madam Shijimi.<p>

Naruto was laughing at the cat´s torture. "Stupid cat," he laughed, "he deserves to be squashed!"

"No wonder he ran away," stated Sakura.

"Now then," started the Hokage, who was in the same room along with Iruka, "for Team 7´s next mission, we have several additional tasks. Among them are babysitting the chief counselor's three-year old, helping his wife do the shopping, picking up potatoes and…"

"GAAAAH!" a scream was heard, and they all saw a certain cat-boy running for his life, flailing his arms like crazy. Chasing him was a big German shepherd, barking like a mad dog with rabies. They ran around the room, until Torabu jumped behind the Hokage and screamed, "GET THAT MONSTER AWAY FROM ME!"

The rest of Team 6 then arrived, Konran looking amused, and Sairento expression unclear as always because of the mask. The latter went up and restrained the dog, while looking at her scared teammate. "You´re pathetic, Torabu!" she stated angrily.

"I told you, those monsters are vicious!" Torabu defended.

"Your fear of dogs is so childish!"

"_They_ start it by chasing me!"

"SUCH THINGS MAKE YOU WEAK! GET OVER IT!" she was practically screaming now.

"HOW CAN I GET OVER IT, IF THEY WANNA EAT ME THE INSTANT THEY SEE ME?"

As the argument went on, Konran walked up to his sensei, arms folded leisurely behind his head. "The stray dog is captured, Sensei," he said while containing his laughter.

"Good, his owner had waited long for you to return," replied Kakashi.

A man then took the dog and was walking away. "Got off the hook easy, did you?" Torabu sneered, making the dog bark and him jump back in slight fear. After that, returned the mute girl and the troublemaking ninja to their argument.

"You put us on this mission on purpose, right?" Konran smirked.

"I wanted to see how you handle situations like that," explained Kakashi.

Team 7, Konran and their sensei looked over at the arguing ninjas. "Not well, apparently," stated Sasuke bluntly.

"Ahem…" the Hokage cleared his throat, giving the two ninjas a clear message to move away from him, which they complied to do without a second thought. "Now then, as stated, the tasks are…"

"No," Naruto interrupted, "I wanna go on a real mission. Something really exciting, not this kid stuff."

"Yeah!" agreed Torabu, "Same goes here!"

In thought, Sasuke agreed, Sakura was annoyed, Konran thought about what mission to go on, and Sairento was prepared for the worst, while Kakashi thought, _I knew this was coming._

"How dare you?" shouted Iruka, "You´re just genin! You´re supposed to do these missions like any other newbie!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? BABYSITTING IS NOT A MISSION, IT´s JUST A- GAAAH!" Naruto was interrupted when his sensei smacked him on the head.

"Will you put a lid on it?" said a bored Kakashi.

"Naruto," started the Hokage, as Naruto was rubbing his sore spot, "it seems you do not understand the tasks you have been given. Listen, many different kinds of requests come into our village every day, from babysitting to assassination. These requests are carefully recorded, analyzed and put in ranks A, B, C or D, depending on the difficulty. We ninjas are also ranked by ability; Hokage being on top, then jonin, chunin, and then genin at the bottom. At assigning missions, we give them to ninjas appropriate to do the task. And if the missions a success, we get a fee for doing our work. Since you are undertrained genin, you are given D level assignments, of course," the Hokage then noticed that they weren´t even listening to him, but listening to Naruto talking about ramen.

Naruto then noticed that the Hokage had stopped talking. "You always lecture me like you´re my grandfather or something," he complained, "but I´m not a brat that pulls pranks all the time!"

Yeah, that´s MY job!" Torabu joined in.

"I´m a ninja now and I want a ninja mission!" finished Naruto and pouted.

Kakashi scratched his head in boredom. "We´re going to hear about this later…" he sighed.

Iruka and the Hokage then chuckled. "Naruto," the latter started, "he don´t want to show us he´s a brat, but a former brat, and he want a mission, so be it," Team 6, 7 and their sensei looked up at this, "Since you are so determined, I´m going to give you all a C-ranked mission. You´ll be bodyguards on a journey."

Naruto quickly livened up at that. "Really? Who´re we guarding? A princess? Or an important counselor?"

"Don´t be so impatient. I will bring him in now," stated the Hokage, with a suspicious smile on his lips.

The Hokage then ordered the visitor in, and from the door emerged an old man. "What the-" he started rudely, "A buncha snot-nosed kids?"

The man looked to be in his early sixties, with grey hair, small glasses and a mustache-beard combo. He wore a sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, beige pants and a pair of sandals. He also wore a towel around his neck, and held a lit cigarette and a bottle of sake.

He took a few slurps of sake, and looked to be partially on his way to being drunk. "And you, the short ones with the idiotic looks and weird features," he started, indicating Naruto and Torabu respectively, "do you really think you´re ninjas?"

"What did you say, you old shit?" the cat-boy cursed, "I have a good reason to look like this!"

"Oh really? Lemme hear."

"I was born like this, okay?"

"Like what? Ugly and ignorant?"

That last statement pushed Torabu over the edge, and if his sensei hadn´t held him back, there was no telling what he could do. "You can´t attack the client, Torabu, it doesn´t work that way," stated Kakashi calmly.

The man let out breath stinking of alcohol, as he introduced himself. "I am Tazuna, a master bridge builder. I need to return to my country. I need to finish a bridge there that will change our lives, and I expect to be escorted safely, even if you have to give up your lives."

* * *

><p>Later, Team 6 and 7 were at the entrance to the town, ready to leave for their mission. Most of them were calm, while Torabu were muttering curses and insults at their client. He then noticed that Naruto was exited. "What´re ya so happy about?" he asked.<p>

"This is the first time I ever leave the village. I´m a traveler now, believe it!"

Tazuna, who now also wore a pointed hat, asked annoyed, "Am I really gonna be protected by this runt?" resulting in angering said runt.

"He´s with me and I´m a jonin, you don´t have to worry," assured Kakashi.

Naruto and the cat-boy were annoyed by their client´s words, and thinking suitable punishments against him. "Hey!" Naruto began, "Never insult a ninja, and I´m one of the greatest ninjas ever! Someday I´m gonna be Hokage, and then you´ll be looking up to me! My name is Naruto Uzumaki, remember it!"

Tazuna took a sip from his sake, and looked at Naruto with a bored expression. "Hokage are powerful, you are puny and brainless. If you´ll become Hokage I´ll sprout wings and fly."

"SHUT UP! I´m willing to do anything to become Hokage, no matter what it takes! And when I do, everyone will look up to me, including you!"

"You can become Hokage ten times and I still won´t give a damn about you. You´re still a loser, and always will be." Naruto had to be restrained by his sensei in order to not hurt Tazuna.

They then started to walk towards their destination, but Torabu had a feeling someone was watching them.

* * *

><p>Hours later of walking in silence, Sakura then decided to break the silence. "Say, mister Tazuna."<p>

"What is it?" he asked.

"Your country is the Land of Waves, right?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

She then looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, there are ninjas there, right?"

"No," he answered, "There´re no ninjas in the Land of Waves. But in other countries, there are hidden villages, each with their own rules and cultures, where ninjas resign. To the people of this continent, the ninjas represent strength, military strength. In other words, that´s how they protect themselves, and maintain the balance of power with the neighboring counties. The ninja villages are not controlled by any organization, they´re independent and live to serve their people. A small island like the Land of Waves has natural protection from the sea, there´s no need for a ninja village. The five ancient lands that possess ninja villages are the Lands of Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind and Earth. They each occupy vast territories. Together, they´re known as the five great ninja nations. The Land of Fire has the village hidden in the leafs, the Land of Water has the village hidden in the mist, the Land of Lightning: the village hidden in the clouds, the Land of Wind: the village hidden in the sand, and the Land of Earth: the village hidden in the stones. Only the leaders of these villages are named 'Kage' which means shadow. Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage. These are the village leaders, the five shadows that reign over the villages."

Sakura squealed. "So the Hokage is really important!" but her inner self was grumbling. "Hmph, that old man´s that important? I don´t buy it."

Naruto and Torabu wasn´t convinced either, since the Sexy-Jutsu could take him out. "Hey!" began Kakashi, "You all just doubted the Hokage, didn´t you?" the three ninjas quickly shook their heads. "Good. Anyway, there are no ninja battles in a C-ranked mission, so don´t worry."

"And we´re not going to run into any enemies at all," Sairento assured.

"Not really," stated Torabu as his ears twisted around to hear something. He heard only nature´s sounds and their own footsteps as they walked.

At some point they passed a small stray puddle, despite that it hasn´t rained in a while. Unbeknownst to them, from the puddle suddenly cloaked person rose from it! That person then threw another person at the unknowing group! Kakashi looked up a little too late, as spiked chains wrapped around his body, binding him!

The assassins seemed to have the other end of the chains connected to the clawed gauntlets they wore. Speaking of those gauntlets, one had only a left gauntlet on, while the other had a right one on.

Teams 6, 7 and their client were too shocked to react, as the assassins pulled the chains and stabbed Kakashi and ripped him apart! Sakura and Naruto panicked as their murdered sensei´s remains fell to the ground, and the assassins approached Naruto from behind. "Now it´s your turn," laughed one of them, as both prepared to kill him.

That´s when Sasuke and Team 6 used their kunai and shuriken to trap the chains and sticking them to a tree. "I´m stuck!" grunted one of them.

Sairento and Konran then delivered swift kicks to each of their heads. The assassins then detached the chains from their gauntlets and split up, the left clawed one going after Naruto, the other after Tazuna, who was guarded by Sakura! He was almost touching him… if it hadn´t been for a certain cat-boy punching him in the face, pushing him away.

"You guys are not the only ones with claws here!" said Torabu and made hand-seals. "Neko Style: Chakra Claws!" he then roared, and light green energy claws protruded from his fingertips!

The two opponents charged at each other. The assassin tried to claw him, but the cat-boy dodged and swiped at him, but was blocked by his left hand, so Torabu used his right and clawed in his opponent's chest and kicked him with both feet! The assassin recovered and charged toward him…

…only to be punched in the stomach by an unscathed Kakashi!

Naruto, who was cowering in fear, looked up and saw that Kakashi had taken care of both opponents. "Hi," Kakashi greeted calmly.

Most of the ninjas were surprised to see their sensei alive, while Sasuke were annoyed at him for showing off, and Naruto was bewildered. "But he-" he indicated the spot where Kakashi was "killed", only to see a bunch of small logs!

"You used the Replacement Jutsu, right sensei?" Konran asked.

"Naruto," Kakashi started, "I´m sorry for not being there earlier, but I thought you could handle yourself. I didn´t think you would freeze up like that," he went over to the rest. "Nice job, guys."

_I was useless,_ thought Naruto, _I didn´t do anything, while Sasuke looked cool, like he´s done it a thousand times! Was he not scared at all? He looked cool, while I looked pathetic! Why can´t I keep up whit him?_

"Hey!" Sasuke stated to Naruto, "You´re not hurt are you… scaredycat?" he ended mockingly.

Naruto would´ve roared at him in rage, if not for Kakashi interrupting him. "Naruto, don´t move. Their claws are full of poison. We need to get it out of you," Naruto looked shocked at his wounded left hand. "We have to open your wound and remove it, it´s in your blood, so don´t move around, that would spread the poison."

Kakashi then looked at Tazuna. "By the way, Tazuna."

"Yeah, what?" he replied a little nervous.

"We need to talk," after binding the assassins to a tree, Kakashi started, "They´re chunin from the hidden mist village, their specialty is relentless attack, and they keep fighting no matter what the cost."

"How did you know about our ambush?" asked one of them.

"A puddle? On a clear day? When it hasn´t rained in weeks?"

"If you knew that, why did you let the genin do the fighting?" asked Tazuna.

"I could have taken them out quickly, but then I had known nothing about who they were after, and what they were after."

"What´re you getting at?" asked Tazuna.

"I wanted to know if they were after us ninja or if they were after you, the master bridge builder. When you asked for protection, you wanted regular protection from robbers, you didn´t say anything about other ninjas hunting you down. If we knew this, it would be a B-ranked mission or higher. Our task was simply to get you safely to your destination and protect you while you finish building the bridge. If we knew we would´ve be attacked, we´d have charged more and ranked it higher."

"You have your reasons," Sairento started, "but lying is unacceptable. We´re now beyond the scope of our mission."

"We´re genin, this is too difficult for us," started Sakura, "We should go back. We also need to treat Naruto´s wound. Back in our village we could heal it."

They all looked at Naruto, before Konran stated, "Naruto´s hand might become a problem. I guess we should go back."

Naruto was angry. He felt even more useless than before. He got enough, took a kunai and stabbed his infected hand, to the others´ utter shock! "Why am I so different?" he grunted through gritted teeth, "Why am I always…"

"Naruto, stop that!" Torabu yelled, "What´re ya doing?"

"I worked so hard to get here! Pushing myself till it hurt! Training alone for hours! Doing anything to get stronger, to get to my dream! I will never back down again, or let anyone rescue me! I will never run away, and I won´t lose to anyone!" he lifted his bleeding hand. "I swear upon this wound, I make this pledge, believe it: bridge builder, I will escort you and complete this mission, with this kunai knife. A real ninja never gives up and neither will I! Don´t you guys worry about me, let´s go!"

"Naruto," Kakashi started, "it was cool how you did that, but if you lose anymore blood, you´ll die."

A few seconds of silence later, Naruto paled at the sight of his injured hand, and panicked. "No, no, no! I'm too young to die!"

"Here, show me your hand," ordered Sairento. Naruto complied and she took it, she looked at it and saw, despite not doing anything, the wound healed fast!

"Your silence unnerves me," said a scared Naruto, "Am I okay, Sairento?"

She wiped away his blood and looked at him. "You´ll be fine." _How did he heal so quickly?_

* * *

><p>Meanwhile somewhere else at a later point of the day, inside a weird-looking house, was a commotion going on.<p>

"You failed? YOU FAILED?" yelled a man's voice. The man looked to be in his late forties, had wild orange hair, and was short. He wore a business suit and sunglasses. He looked at a sitting person and yelled, "What is this, amateur night? I paid up lots of money for you! I thought you´re supposed to be hot-shot assassins!"

"Stop whining," replied the sitting person, and pointed a massive sword at the shorter man´s neck.

The threatening man was tall and muscular, with pale skin, short spiky black hair, brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He wore bandages over the bottom half of his face like a mask, his ninja headband on the side of the head, only a belt on his upper body – to which he can attach the sword to – striped baggy pants, mimetic wrist-warmers that extended up to his elbows, and matching legwarmers. "This time I´ll go personally," he swore, "and I´ll make sure this sword is the last thing he will ever see."

"Are you sure about that?" asked the short man, "Apparently Tazuna has a high-level ninja guarding him. If your first attempt failed, they´ll expect you to be back. They´ll be waiting, watching. It´ll take someone with very advanced skills."

"Who do you think you´re dealing with? I am Zabuza Momochi, the demon of the hidden mist."

* * *

><p>dopliss: Oooooh, this is getting more interesting.<p>

Mizuki: Indeed. I can´t wait until next chapter.

dopliss: Don´t worry, I´ll upload new ones as often as possible!


	6. Chapter 6 A fogging fight

**dopliss: Hey there. (Sighs) Here´s a big chapter for you.**

**Mizuki: You look less happy today.**

**dopliss: One: I´m going back to school in a few days, and two: I couldn´t sleep last night.**

**Mizuki: Sounds tough.**

**dopliss: Yeah, school´s a real bitch.**

**Disclaimer: Kishimuto- sama is the rightful owner of Naruto.**

**A/n: Excusez-moi if I disappoint Naruto fans.**

* * *

><p>Our heroes have now traveled far. So far in fact, that they were sailing over to the land of waves in a boat rowed by a man, despite the boat having a motor, which was not on.<p>

"The fog is so thick, you can´t see anything," stated Sakura.

Naruto, who sat frontmost in the boat, took a few sniffs with his nose. "The bridge isn´t far now," said the rowing man, "our destination is up ahead. The Land of Waves."

Naruto then noticed something in the distance. Through the fog, all 9 of them could see an unfinished bridge towering over them. "Whoa, it´s HUGE!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Be quiet!" whispered the rower loudly, "I told you: no noise! Why do you think we´re traveling like this, huh? Cutting off the engine, rowing? Moving through the dense fog? So they don´t se us."

Everyone was quiet at that, until Konran raised a question. "Mr. Tazuna, before we reach the pier, I want to ask you," Tazuna was all quiet, "The men who are after you, we need to know why. If you do not tell us, the consequences will be us ending the mission once we are ashore."

Tazuna was silent as the others looked at him. Then he broke the silence. "I have no choice but to tell you. Now, I want you to know the truth. Like you said, this is beyond the scope of the original mission. The one who seeks my life is a very short man who casts a powerful shadow."

"A deadly shadow?" asked Torabu, "Who is it?"

The bridge builder looked at Kakashi. "You know him; at least you might have heard his name before. He´s one of the wealthiest men in the world: the shipping magnate Gato."

Kakashi was surprised at that. "Gato? As in 'Gato Transport'? He´s a business leader, everyone knows him."

"Who?" asked Naruto.

"Gato," answered Tazuna, "He´s a very powerful tycoon from a famous company, that´s true. But below the surface, with the same ruthless methods he uses to take over business and nations, he also sells drugs using gangs and ninjas. It was one year ago, when Gato first set his sight on the Land of Waves. He came to our island and used his vast wealth to take total control of our transport and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way would simply be… disappeared. In an island´s nation of a man who controls the sea controls everything. Finance, governments, our very lives. But there´s one thing he fears: the bridge. When it is complete, it would join us to the land and break everything in his control. I am the bridge builder."

Everyone was interested in what they heard. "So that´s it?" asked Sakura, "Since you´re in charge of the bridge, you´re in this gangster´s way."

Sasuke then came to a realization. "That means, those guys we fought in the forest, they were working for Gato."

"I don´t understand," said Kakashi, "If you knew he was dangerous, you knew he would send ninjas. Why did you hide that from us?"

Tazuna lowered his head. "Because… the Land of Waves is a poor, polish nation. Even our nobles have little money. The common people who are building this bridge, they can´t pay for an A or B-ranked mission, it´s too expensive. If you end the mission when you drop me ashore, there would be no bridge. They´ll assassinate me before I reach home," here his voice turned slightly sarcastic, "But don´t feel bad about it. Of course my sweet little grandson would cry:" his voice then turned childlike, "'Granddad! I want my Granddad!'" that made some of the young ninjas feel bad, "And my daughter would condemn the ninja of the hidden leafs, denouncing and blaming you for abandoning her father and living her life in sorrow," all of the ninjas were now feeling bad for thinking of abandoning him, "Ah well, it´s not your fault, forget it."

The ninjas looked at each other, before Sairento stated, "Well, I guess we don´t have a choice. We have to keep guarding you."

Tazuna, a little relieved, then said, "Ah, I´m very grateful." But secretly, he was smirking to himself while thinking _I win!_

"We´re approaching the shore," announced the rower, as they closed in on land. "Tazuna, we´ve been very fortunate, no one's spotted us."

"Nice going."

They then entered a tunnel. And when they came out to the other side, they were greeted by a beautiful sight: a peaceful village lying by the waters. They marveled at the sight, as the rower led them onwards. All the streets were empty, not a single trace of life.

They all went to a dock and exited the boat. They thanked the rower, and he departed by activating the motor on the boat, taking a well deserved rest. "Okay," started Tazuna, "get me to my home, and I mean in one peace," and with that, they were off.

As they left the village, Kakashi couldn´t help but worry. _The first ninjas were chunin level, next they´ll properly send a jonin, _and then he sighed.

* * *

><p>Later, they were walking through a forest peacefully. But Naruto was not in a good mood. <em>I´m not gonna let Sasuke get all the glory this time, believe it!<em>

Naruto then ran forward, scouted around, and then threw a kunai into some bushes. Everyone was tensed up. What could Naruto have spotted?

The answer was nothing.

"It was just a mouse," Naruto shrugged.

"As if!" Konran scolded, "You know damn well there was nothing there! If it was a mouse, we´d know ´cause of our own 'mouse detector' here!" he pointed a thumb in the cat-boy´s direction.

Sasuke and the mute girl just saw it as idiocy, Sakura was upset, Torabu sighed, Kakashi was angry at Naruto tossing a dangerous kunai around, and Tazuna was the most enraged. "DON´T TRY TO SCARE ME, YA LITTLE BOY!"

Naruto didn´t listen and scouted the area for more "potential dangers", when Torabu´s ears and senses picked up something. Naruto then threw a kunai into another bush, and Sakura decided to smack him on the head. "W-What was that for?" asked a bewildered Naruto.

"You´re acting like a brat, Naruto! No one´s following us!"

"I wouldn´t say no one´s following us," said Torabu, while he was looking behind the bushes to find a small rabbit nearly scared to death, the kunai inches above its head sticking out from a tree.

Naruto saw this, went over to the rabbit, picked it up and started apologizing. Kakashi couldn´t help but find the rabbit strange. _A snow rabbit? But they only have white fur during winter, on short days with little sunlight. It was raised indoors with little sunlight, meaning someone was using it for a Replacement technique._

Looking at them from above in a tree, sat the sword-carrying ninja from the shady location. _No wonder the Demon Brothers failed in their mission, _he thought and grasped his sword, _that´s the copy ninja from the hidden leaf village, Kakashi the Sharingan Eye._ He then jumped and threw his sword at them.

"Look out!" yelled Torabu who saw this, and everyone ducked in order to not get hit by the sword. The sword curved upwards and was stuck in a thick tree, the shaft becoming a steady foothold for the attacker.

Kakashi looked up at the attacker, who was facing the opposite direction, and was surprised. _That must be…_

The younger ninjas all tensed up at the sight of their enemy. "Well, well, well, if it isn´t Zabuza Momochi, rouge ninja from the village hidden in the mist," said Kakashi.

Torabu was surprised. _A rouge ninja? How strong is he?_

Sairento then stated, "If anything goes wrong, take the client and run."

Naruto tried to rush towards Zabuza, but his sensei stopped him. "Stand back," he said with cold seriousness, "you´ll all won´t be in my way. He´s not like the other ninjas, he´s in a whole different level," and here he reached up to his covered left eye.

"Kakashi the Sharingan Eye," Zabuza started, "Did I get that right?" Sasuke was rather surprised at hearing that. "It´s too bad, huh? But you´ll have to hand over the old man."

Many of the others were wondering what he meant with "Sharingan". "Now, quick!" ordered Kakashi, "Protect the bridge builder, and stay outta this fight! I taught you teamwork, now it´s time to use it," he then began lifting his headband so it wouldn´t cover his left eye, and when he was done, not only was a scar going vertically across the eye revealed, but the eye itself was unusual. It was red, with three circles around the pupil. "I´m ready!" he then said.

Naruto was shocked at seeing the left eye, while Zabuza was quite calm. "Well," he said, "seem like I get to see the Sharingan in action. This is an honor," he then turned around to face his opponent.

"What is a Sharingan?" asked Konran.

"Sharingan," began Sasuke, "a rare power. It resides in the eyes. The user of this visual Jutsu can instantly comprehend any Ninjutsu, Taijutsu or Genjutsu, and reflect the attack back on the user. The Sharingan is a rare, special form of eye techniques, the Dojutsu. However, there´s more to the Sharingan than that, a lot more."

The other genin were surprised at his knowledge. "You got it right, boy," started Zabuza, "but you only scratched the surface. The Sharingan can also analyze a person´s techniques, and then copy it to its smallest detail," suddenly emerged a thick fog, "As for you jonin, in the assassination unit of the hidden mist, we have a standing order to destroy you on sight. Your profile was in our bingo-book, it called you 'the man who copied over a thousand jutsus, Kakashi, the copy ninja'."

Again, the genin were surprised, but this time of their sensei being so famous. Konran looked at the jonin. _I know a lot about the village, but never about him._

Sasuke was a little confused. He knew that the Sharingan could only be obtained by a few members of his family clan. _So how come he has it? Could he be…?_

Zabuza then prepared to strike, hell-bent to kill the bridge builder. The other ninjas quickly covered their client, each of them armed. Kakashi stood there, ready to fight. "So," the assassin began, "I´ll have to go through you first, Kakashi? So be it."

He then pulled his sword out of the tree and jumped over to a nearby lake, standing on the water! He then made a hand-seal, and water started circling him. _He´s building up a lot of chakra, _noted Kakashi mentally.

"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" Zabuza roared, and the fog became thicker, hiding him from sight!

"Where did he go?" asked Torabu.

Kakashi stepped forward. "Sensei," Sairento started, "who is that?"

"Zabuza Momochi, the ex-leader of the hidden mist assassination unit," Kakashi explained, "He´s a master of the Silent Killing technique."

"Silent?"

"As the name suggests, it happens in an instant, not giving the target any time to react. But so fast you´d pass from your life without realizing what happened. The Sharingan can´t fully neutralize it, so don´t lower your guard," everyone of the genin were unnerved but ready for anything. "If we fail, we´ll only lose our lives," joked Kakashi.

"This mist is incredibly thick," stated the cat-boy.

"The Land of Waves is surrounded by ocean, the swirling mists are ever present," explained Tazuna.

The mist then swallowed Kakashi, tensing up the remaining ninjas even more. Not a sound was made…

…until, "Eight points," Zabuza´s voice sounded, "Neck, spine, lungs, liver, carotid artery, body artery, kidneys, heart. Now… which will be my kill-point?"

Now all of our heroes were scared, but they still had to keep their heads cold. Kakashi had enough being blinded by the fog, so he made a hand-seal and blew some of the fog away! Sasuke was surprised. _What an intense thirst for blood! One shallow breath, one tiny movement with the eye is enough to bring instant death! If it goes on like this, he´ll go insane! A clash with two jonin out to kill… I´ve never felt anything so chilling! It´s as if my own life is being chopped off! _Sasuke then tightened his grip around one of his kunai. _No! I can´t take this! I´ll rather take my own life!_

"Sasuke!" their sensei´s voice reached them, "Calm down. I´ll protect you with my life. All of you. I will not allow my comrades to die," he turned around and smiled, "trust me."

The genin were stunned by those words, but then, "I´m not so sure about that."

None of the children expected Zabuza to pop out of nowhere, in the middle of the genin and their client, in a perfect position to take him out! "It´s over," he said and prepared to strike.

Kakashi quickly dashed off, and slammed into his opponent´s stomach with a kunai, stabbing him…

…only then for Zabuza to… drip water? Another Zabuza appeared behind the jonin, ready to swing his sword!

"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto warned.

But it was too late. The dripping Zabuza became water, and the real one, "DIE!" swung his massive blade right through Kakashi´s torso, splitting him in half! But then he noticed that his victim itself turned into water! _The Water Clone Jutsu! It can´t be!_ He then remembered that when he made the mist, Kakashi hid in it as well, meaning he saw through the illusion and copied his own method. He then felt something sharp at his throat.

"Don´t move!" warned a calm Kakashi with a kunai in hand, "_Now _it´s over!"

Everyone was stunned at what had just transpired, but then they cheered for their sensei´s incredible feat.

But then Zabuza chuckled. "You think I´m finished? You really don´t get it, do you? Your technique was nothing but a mere crass imitation. I´ll never get defeated by a mere copycat ninja like you. But you are entertaining. You copied my Water Clone technique when you made that little speech. Very skillfully executed: you made your clone say those words to draw my attention, while you waited in the mist, waiting for me to make a move. Nice try…" then, another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, "…but I´m not so easily fooled."

The Zabuza Kakashi was holding then dispersed into water, while the real one took a swing at him. Kakashi dodged, the sword then struck the ground, and Zabuza delivered a powerful kick, that send Kakashi airborne! The assassin then pulled out his sword, and ran after his opponent, but stopped when he saw nails lying in his path. "Trying to slow me down?" he asked and jumped into the water.

The children were scared. Their sensei were fighting a strong opponent and currently on the losing end.

Kakashi emerged from the lake he´d been thrown into. _The water is not normal. It´s dense._ He was then attacked from behind by Zabuza performing a Jutsu!

"Fool! Water Prison Jutsu!" and then a sphere of water had captured the jonin! "Trying to escape in the water? Bad mistake," the assassin laughed, standing with his right arm inside the sphere. "This prison´s made of water, but it´s stronger than steel! It´s hard to fight when you can´t move. So much for the great Kakashi. I´ll finish you off later," he turned to the others, "first, your little friends would have to be eliminated! Water Clone Jutsu!"

Then, from the shore of the lake, arose another Water Clone, ready to kill Team 6 and 7! "You think your headband makes you a ninja," started the clone, "When you´ve been through life and death so many times that it doesn´t faze you, then _maybe _you can call yourselves ninjas. When you become so deadly that your profiles´ entered in my bingo-book, then you _may _have earned the title ninjas. But to call upstarts like you for ninjas, that would be a joke!"

The clone then made it foggier around them. Naruto suddenly felt a foot collide with his head, and was flung back several feet, while his headband fell off and landed at the clone´s feet. "You´re just brats!" the clone finished.

"Oh yeah?" Torabu asked provoked, "Can a brat do this?" he then activated his Chakra Claws and dashed forward to tear at his duplicated opponent. The clone just let the attack hit and do nothing, then kick the cat-boy into a tree.

His teammates went over to pick him up. "Remember, Torabu," Sairento started, "he´s a Water Clone, physical attacks have no effect on it."

"Coulda told me a little sooner!" was the reply she got.

"Listen!" yelled Kakashi, "Take the bridge builder and run! You can´t win this fight! He´s using all of his powers on this water prison, and fighting you off with his Water Clone, but the clone can´t separate that far from the main body! If you get away from him, he can´t follow! Hurry up!"

But the thought of running away was unthinkable to the two teams. They settled that when their sensei got caught. Plus, they knew that Zabuza would eventually find them and kill them if they did run.

Sasuke tried to run towards the clone, throwing kunai and shuriken all the while, but the clone swung his sword to deflect the weapons, so he tried to jump at it, but got caught with one hand at his throat and then he was flung away.

Sairento and Konran made clones themselves and sent them against the other clone, only to be cut in half before disappearing, making the two children happy for not going in themselves.

Naruto was too scared to fight. He knew he didn´t stand a chance against a jonin like THAT, and he kept thinking of running away. He tried to get up, but a sudden pain in his left hand – the one he injured – reminded him of something: how he made a pledge about not running away or losing to anyone. He stood back up, and looked at his headband at the clone´s feet. He then remembered it was a gift from Iruka, when he finally passed his exam. And he also remembered Kakashi´s lesson about teammates taken hostage and forced to do their bidding. And finally his promises about becoming Hokage. _That´s right, I´m a ninja now, believe it! I swore an oath of pain! I won´t run away!_

He then ran screaming at the clone, and ended up being thrown back the way he came from. "What would that accomplish?" yelled a concerned Sairento.

Naruto struggled to get up, and they could witness that he did it to get back his headband, which was now in his injured hand. He finally stood steadily on his legs and said, "Hey you, the freak with no eyebrows, put _this_ in your bingo-book: the ninja who would become Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves…" he put his headband back on; "…he never backs down. His name is Naruto Uzumaki!"

The clone glared at him, Kakashi looked impressed, and Tazuna was stunned. _That is one determined kid!_

"Alright, guys, listen up!" Naruto said and started planning. The others were stunned that Naruto had a plan. "Guys… Let´s go wild!"

Naruto, Torabu and Sasuke stood assembled and ready to face danger head-on. The clone chuckled. "You think you´re the ones winning now, huh? You think your plans are gonna keep you in the game?"

"WHAT´RE YOU DOING?" yelled Kakashi, "THIS FIGHT WAS OVER WHEN I WAS CAUGHT!"

"Sensei," Torabu started, "The only reason we´re not leaving is ´cause of what you taught us: teamwork is important. And you´re part of the team, like it or not, we´re gonna beat this asshole and save you!"

"Alright, you hear that?" asked Sasuke.

"Yeah, believe it!" replied Naruto.

The clone chuckled then went on to laughing. "You really haven't learnt anything, did you? Still playing your little game, pretending to be ninjas," he held up his right hand, "When I was your age, this hand had already killed many."

"Zabuza, the Demon!" Kakashi realized.

"So, I was in your book too?" asked the real Zabuza.

"Not long ago," Kakashi told, "the village hidden in the mist was known as the 'blood mist village'. Before a student could become a ninja, there was one final test."

"So, you know about our old graduation exam?" asked the clone.

"So? What´s the big deal? We also had exams," stated the cat-boy.

The clone laughed. "Did you have to annihilate the other students to pass?" that bit of news shocked the young ninjas. "Imagine, young ninja like you eating together, training together, and then comes the final exam, only, the rules have changed. You couldn´t stop until you´ve destroyed your opponent, who was your friend, has shared you dreams with, and now it´s him against you!"

"Ten years ago," Kakashi told, "in the village hidden in the mist, the rules changed. One year before, a dark evil have filled the school with terror. Without pause or hesitation, a young boy, who was not even a ninja, approached the school, and killed over 100 total students."

Silence reigned after that, until the clone broke it. "It… it felt so… GOOD!" he then quickly ran forward, kicked Sasuke a few feet away, and then smashed his elbow into the poor boy´s stomach, causing the boy to scream in pain. The clone then took hold of his sword, and prepared to kill Sasuke.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" yelled Naruto and the cat-boy, and 20 clones of each appeared! Every one of the clones was armed with kunai, and then they all jumped him. But even when the clones completely covered him, he was still too strong for them to keep him down. As the clones disappeared, the original Naruto took something from his traveling-backpack and threw it to a now recovered Sasuke.

Sasuke grabbed it, and then knew what Naruto´s plan was. The thing looked like four black blades held together by a ring. He then made it so the four blades pointed in different directions, making it look like a big shuriken. "Demon Wind Shuriken: The Shadow Windmill!" he roared.

The clone was unimpressed. "A shuriken? That´s all?"

Sasuke then jumped up into the air, and flung the shuriken in the clone's direction. The clone was then surprised to see, that it curved around him and towards the real one! "So, you passed the clone and aimed for my real body? Clever," said Zabuza, and caught the shuriken, "but not smart enough." He then noticed another shuriken coming his way! He figured it must´ve hidden in the shadow of the first one. Realizing he couldn´t catch it, he jumped over it. "I told you a shuriken can´t touch me!"

The shuriken flied a little longer, before a puff of smoke appeared, and in the place of the weapon, was now Torabu, much to everyone but Sasuke´s and Naruto´s surprise. "Dodge this!" the cat-boy cried and threw a kunai at Zabuza!

Zabuza quickly moved away from the small knife´s course. He then faced the cat-boy, and prepared to throw the shuriken he caught, while saying, "I´ll crush you!" But before he could throw it, a drenched Kakashi stopped him with one arm, giving him a deadly glare, as Torabu fell into the water!

Torabu then emerged to the surface, grinning with a big smile. "Boys that was an excellent plan!" praised Kakashi, "You´ve really grown."

"Ha-ha! The Shadow Clones were just a distraction so I could transform and be placed in Naruto´s pack!" he explained, "When Sasuke got me, he knew it was me, and also threw his own shuriken! I hid in that one's shadow, so I could easily fool the idiot! And the clone disappearing along with the prison was a bonus!"

The team members that didn´t know about this were rather impressed. And so was Zabuza. "I just got distracted and lost the grip on the Water Prison."

"Don´t flatter yourself," said Kakashi coldly, "You weren´t distracted, you were forced to let go. Your technique worked on me once, but no more! So, what´s it gonna be?"

As the other ninjas went to protecting Tazuna again, Zabuza decided to fold the shuriken and use four blades on Kakashi´s arm! He broke free, sending the weapon flying, and then both combatants leaped backwards. When Kakashi saw him make hand-seals, he instantly learned it, thanks to the Sharingan. Both began making hand-seals for the same Jutsu, chanting the same words. Suddenly, the chanting stopped, and both yelled, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" and then two dragons made of water arose from the lake! One for each of the jonin.

The dragons then attacked each other, creating huge waves in the lake! Even the younger ninjas were surprised. "What is that?" asked Tazuna.

"That," stated Torabu, "is skills from powerful jonin!"

As the dragons kept fighting, the assassin and Kakashi fought themselves, sword against kunai. Zabuza then noticed that something was off. _The Sharingan can comprehend and replicate the enemy´s technique. However, those Jutsus were made simultaneously._

Meanwhile on land, behind the heroes, stood a person on a tree branch, looking over the fight. The person had black shoulder length hair gathered in a white bun, wore a moss green striped turtle-neck sweater, a split skirt in matching color that reached down to his knees, a green blue short kimono with white edges over the sweater, a green brown obi around his waist, and a white mask with thin, curved eye-holes and a red wavy design in place of the mouth.

The dragons were now gone, but the two were still locking blades. Zabuza was starting to suspect something, so both jumped backwards, and then they ran in circles around another, both still being completely in front of each other. They then both stopped, and made the exact same positions for a Jutsu. That´s when it dawned on everyone, that Kakashi was doing everything his opponent does, no matter what. _My movements,_ Zabuza thought, _he knows exactly what I´m…_

"…Going to do," Kakashi finished.

_What? Is he reading my mind as well? _He then looked at the Sharingan Eye. _Oops, I hate that eye!_

"It makes you furious, doesn´t it?"

They both made the same hand-seal. "All you´re doing is copy me, like a monkey."

Then both said at the same time, "You can´t beat me with cheap tricks, I´ll crush you!" much to Zabuza´s irritation.

"Once I´m finished with you, you´ll never open that monkey mouth again!" and they made more hand-seals. Suddenly he noticed something behind Kakashi. It was shady and blurry. _What is that? _Then the figure became clearer, and turned out to be another Zabuza! _That´s ME! But how? Is it an illusion Jutsu?_

Kakashi then made more hand-seals, and announced, "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!" then his left eye began spinning, and a spiral of water erupted before him!

"_What_? But how?" Zabuza screamed as the water vortex grew bigger and consumed him! _I was about to create a vortex! But then he creates a bigger one first! He copied my Jutsu before I made it! I CAN´T KEEP UUUUUP!_

The vortex blasted its way through and tore down some trees, before pushing the trapped assassin into a sturdy tree, and subsiding. He coughed up some water, before several kunai was thrown at him and trapping him to the tree. He looked up and saw Kakashi looking at him. "You´re finished," he said.

"How…?" gasped Zabuza, "Can you… see into the future?"

"Yes. This is you last battle… ever!" and he pulled out a kunai.

From out of nowhere, two projectiles came rushing through the air, and hit Zabuza in the throat! Everyone was shocked at seeing that, and then, up on a tree branch, they saw who was behind it: the boy that spied on them! The boy chuckled. "You were right, it was his last battle."

Everyone was stunned. kakashi came down to confirm the situation. After a while, he said, "No vital signs… he´s dead."

He then looked at the newcomer, who bowed in gratitude. "Thank you," he said, "I´ve been hunting Zabuza for a long time, waiting for this chance to finally take him down."

"By your mask, I´d say you´re a Tracker-ninja from the hidden mist village," said Kakashi.

"Impressive. You´re well-informed."

Naruto then walked forward. "Tracker…?"

Sairento decided to explain. "When a rouge ninja breaks loose from the village, he carries all kinds of secrets, the secrets of his people. Tracker-ninjas are especially trained to capture these ninjas and kill them. That way, the secrets of their people remain secrets."

"That´s correct," Affirmed the boy, "I´m a member of the elite tracking unit of the hidden mist village. It was my duty to stop Zabuza."

_He don´t look any older than us genin,_ Torabu noted.

_He´s no ordinary kid, but what is he? _Kakashi thought.

Naruto was angry. Angry that a strong ninja like Zabuza got killed just like that. and angry at what was going to happen to his remains. "Who the hell do you think you are?" he roared to the others´ shock.

"Easy, Naruto," Kakashi said, "He´s not our enemy."

"That´s not the point! Did you see what he did to Zabuza, just like that? He was big and strong, like some kind of monster, and then this kid – who´re no bigger than me – kills him with one strike, like it was nothing! I mean, what does that make us?"

"Even if you don´t accept that, it did happen, Naruto. In this world there are kids younger than you and yet stronger than me."

The boy jumped down and took the corpse. "Your struggle is over now, I´ll deal with the remains. There are many secrets in this body; I must get rid of them. Please excuse me. Goodbye," and with a hand-seal, the boy and the corpse were gone.

Kakashi covered his left eye again. "As ninjas, the things we encounter are never easy, save your energy for the next battle." He said.

Tazuna then laughed. "Sorry for causing this mess for you. I´ll tell ya what, you can stay at my house once we arrive!"

"Alright, let´s get a move on!" not two seconds after Kakashi had said those words; he felt incredibly weak and passed out.

"What´s wrong with him?" asked Konran.

Sairento checked his pulse. "He´s alive, but incredibly weak. We need to carry him towards town."

* * *

><p>dopliss: (sighs) This is the last chapter that´ll get uploaded in a while, you know, school and stuff. But I will still make updates, don´t worry.<p>

dopliss: (sees Mizuki eating a chocolate bar) Is that what I think it is?

Mizuki: (hides chocolate bar in panic) I don´t know what you´re talking about!

dopliss: (pulls out a flamethrower and a bazooka) Time to reintroduce you to the weapons of the 21st. century!


	7. Chapter 7 Burning combat

**dopliss: (coming back from school and falling face first into the floor) SCHOOOOOOOOL!**

**Mizuki: Harsh day, huh?**

**dopliss: Not harsh, merciless.**

**Disclaimer: Me owning Naruto? Ha-ha, what a joke!**

**A/n: If I disappoint Naruto fans, (in German) ****es tut mir leid.**

* * *

><p>It has now been a while since our heroes have arrived at the hidden mist village. As Tazuna had promised, they had lived at his house, waiting for their sensei to recover. Speaking of which, Kakashi was lying on a futon, groaning. "I think I overdid it with my Sharingan," he sighed.<p>

A woman with dark-blue shoulder-length hair, wearing a pink t-shirt and purple skirt then approached him. "I see you´re awake," she said in a gentle voice, "Are you alright?"

"I´ve been better," he responded, "It takes normally a week before I´ve recovered." He tried to sit up.

"It´s better if you don´t move, so please lie down."

"Right…" he then lay down.

That´s when his students and Tazuna entered. "Hey there, Sensei. How are you?" asked Konran.

"Listen, Sensei," Sakura started, "your Sharingan was cool, but if it strains you this much, I don´t recommend it."

"Sorry," Kakashi apologized.

Tazuna then cleared his throat. "Well, you did defeat their most powerful ninja assassin, so we should be safe for a while."

"But what about that kid with the mask?" asked Torabu.

"He´s from the elite tracking ninjas of the hidden mist village. Those masks are only worn by the best of ninjas."

"What exactly do they do?"

"The ANBU black ops, also known as the Inferno Squad, destroy all traces of a rouge ninja´s corpse. The ninja´s body contains many secrets. Ninjutsus, chakra, special medicines used on his body. These are the secrets of his village, if their enemies find them; his people would be in grave danger. For instance: if I would´ve died on an enemy, he would try to analyze my Sharingan. In the worst case, all of my Jutsus could be stolen and used on my village. It is the sacred duty of ninja trackers to prevent this, to keep the villages safe. If a ninja betrays his village, the trackers will hunt him down and eliminate every trace of his existence. That´s their specialty."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in the forest, the masked boy was standing over the dead Zabuza. He took a scissor-like tool, and prepared to use it. "First remove the bandages and drain some of the blood," he said to himself.<p>

He moved the tool closer to the body´s face…

…but then it stopped him by gripping his arm! He wasn´t dead! Zabuza looked at the boy, and removed some of the bandages covering his mouth, showing a row of pointy teeth. "That´s enough! I´ll do it!" he said.

"So, you´ve already come back to life?"

Zabuza groaned as he sat up. "Haku, you´re brutal!"

"You´re the one that´s brutal, Zabuza. If you go on like that, you really will be finished," Haku scolded as he removed the needles used to kill the assassin.

"How long are you going to wear that phony mask? Take it off!"

"I have good memories of this mask, and it was quite useful for tricking that ninja." He then removed his mask, showing a headband similar to Zabuza´s around his forehead, and a very feminine face with big brown eyes. "If I hadn´t intervened, you´d be dead now, that much is certain."

Zabuza snorted. "Putting me in a temporary death state is fine, but not through the pressure points in my neck." He covered his mouth with the bandages again. "Cruel as usual, I think you enjoy it."

"It was the only sure way and I wouldn´t wanna mock up your flawless body, you´d complain about _that_ even more. The neck is more vulnerable. It has no layer of muscles, so I could go straight to the pressure points." Zabuza tried to move, but couldn´t due to the pain. "There´s no point trying to move, you´ll be numb for a week. Although, if you´re as stubborn as usual, it might take half the time."

Zabuza glared at him. "You´re so innocent," he said with sarcasm, "but clever at the same time. A rare combination, that´s why I keep you around."

Haku giggled at that comment and blushed. "I´m still a kid what else would you expect?" he stood up. "The mist has cleared. Next time… would you be alright?"

The assassin narrowed his eyes. "Next time, I´ll see right through that Sharingan!"

* * *

><p>Kakashi sat up again, thinking about something. <em>What is this? If Zabuza is finished, then why do I feel this way? Something´s wrong. It´s like I missed something.<em>

"Hey, are you okay, Sensei" Naruto asked.

"Oh, to finish what I just said, tracker ninjas deal with the body immediately, on the spot."

"Is that really important?" asked Sakura.

"Think about it, do you remember what the boy did to Zabuza´s body?"

Torabu shrugged. "Beats me. He left with it."

"Exactly, but why? He should´ve worked on Zabuza right there as quickly as possible. Think of the weapons he used for the takedown, do you remember what they were?"

Sasuke thought about it. "Throwing-needles! No way!"

"Exactly. None of it adds up."

"Hey, what´re you blabbing about?" Tazuna asked, "You demolished that assassin."

"Here´s the truth: Zabuza is still alive!" At that statement, Naruto, Sakura, Torabu, Konran and Tazuna were shocked, and the woman was worried.

"But we saw his body, believe it!" Naruto stated.

"You checked him yourself, Sensei," Sairento stated, "You said his heart stopped."

"His heart DID stop, but that was only a temporary state to simulate death. The weapons the boy used are called senbon. They can pierce deeply, but can´t kill unless they hit a vital organ, NOT in the neck. They´re modified as needles used for medical treatment like acupuncture. Trackers are taught every detail about the human body, causing the heart to stop while keeping the body alive is an easy matter for them. First he carried the body away, despite it being heavier than him. Second he used senbon to kill him, despite their weak effect. From these two factors, we can conclude that the tracker wasn´t trying to kill Zabuza, he was trying to save him."

"C´mon, you´re over-thinking this, right?" Tazuna asked.

"Encountering suspicion, the ninja prepares quickly. Hesitation leads to disaster, every ninja know this saying." He saw that despite of Naruto tensing up; a smile was on his lips. _He´s actually pleased to hear Zabuza´s alive. Now Naruto´s got another shot at him._

"Sensei," Konran began, "you said 'prepare quickly', but how can we do that if you can barely move?"

Kakashi laughed. "I can still train you."

"Hold on," Sakura started, "a little last minute training won´t make us strong enough to fight Zabuza! You could barely defeat him, even with your Sharingan! We have to be reasonable about this!" Her inner self´s personal opinion was the same. "What´re you trying to do, kill us?"

"Sakura, why was I able to stop Zabuza? Because you all helped me. You´ve grown. Naruto and Torabu, you´ve grown the most," he finished with a smile.

Naruto and the cat-boy smirked at that comment, while Sakura was thinking. _They do seem stronger and more mature, but still…_

"Now things are gonna be better, Kakashi-sensei, believe it!" Naruto bragged.

"I don´t believe it, and nothing´s gonna be good!" came a voice from behind. They all looked at the newcomer. It was a small brown-haired kid, wearing a white t-shirt, dark-green overalls, and a white hat with two blue stripes.

"WHO ARE YOU?" Naruto yelled angrily.

Tazuna kneeled down. "Ah, Inari! Where´ve ya been!"

Inari ran over to the bridge builder and hugged him. "Welcome back, Grandpa!"

The woman placed her hands on her hips in a motherly fashion, and scolded. "Inari, that was very rude. These ninjas helped your grandpa and brought him home."

Tazuna laughed. "It´s okay, Tsunami, I yelled at them too."

Inari looked at the young ninjas before turning to Tsunami. "Mom, don´t you see these ninjas are gonna die? Gato and his men will come back and wipe them out."

Naruto was very offended. "What did you say? Listen kid, do you know what a super ninja is? Well that´s me, only a lot better! I´m gonna be Hokage! This Gato or Blato or whatever he´s called is no match for a real hero like me!"

"Hah, there´s no such thing as a hero, you´re just full of stupid ideas!" Naruto needed to be restrained at that comment. "If you wanna stay alive, you should go home." And with that, Inari left.

"Where´re you going?" asked Tazuna.

"To look at the ocean I wanna be alone!"

A little later, Naruto walked up some of the house´s stairs. "Who the hell does that brat think he is? I´m gonna put him in his place right now!" he grumbled aloud. He reached the top and walked towards the room, and stopped when he heard sobbing. He looked through a crack in the door. _He´s crying…_

He was right, for indeed Inari sat near an open window, crying. He looked at a framed picture in his hands. The picture was of a smiling man. "No, Daddy no!" he sobbed.

* * *

><p>Later in the forest nearby, the two teams and their sensei – who used crutches to keep him up – stood gathered in a clearing. "Alright, training starts now!" Kakashi announced, "First, we will begin with a review of chakra, the ninja´s basic source of power. Understanding chakra is essential."<p>

"That´s right!" Naruto confirmed, "A long time ago we learned about catra."

"Chakra." Kakashi corrected. "Go ahead and explain, Sakura."

"Alright," she started, "chakra is the elemental life energy used by ninjas when using Jutsus. It´s the source of all his power. Now this energy has two forms, physical energy which is in the entire body and cells, all working together, and spiritual energy the primal source of power, which is intensified through training an experience. These two parts of chakra must be combined to perform a Jutsu, the key being the interplay between physical and spiritual power. Finally, hand-seals make the use of this power."

"Right on," Kakashi complimented, "you covered all of it. Iruka really had some good students."

"What´s the big deal with these complicated explanations?" Naruto complained, "All we need to do is learn Jutsus, right?"

"Naruto´s right for once," Sasuke agreed, "we already use chakra in our Jutsus."

"No, you have not mastered this power; you´ve barely scratched the surface of it." Kakashi stated.

"What do you mean?" asked Konran.

"It´s just like Sakura said, you have to draw on physical AND spiritual energy, and combine them within yourself, but how do you do that? Each Jutsu requires different types of chakra and different proportions. You must select and combine them in the correct way. Up to now, you´ve only guessed the proportions, hoping they come out right. Even if you can produce a lot of chakra, unless you can balance and control it, it´s all useless. A Jutsu won´t work at all or it´ll just be a joke. You waste so much energy that way, until you´ve run out of chakra and can´t fight at all, then you´re just a target."

"So how do we change that?"

"By training so hard, until it´s like a second nature. If you wish to achieve that, you must be willing to set your life on the line."

"What do we need to do?" asked Sairento.

Kakashi chuckled. "Climb a tree."

"What?" asked the young ninjas at the same time.

"That´s right, but one rule: no hands."

"What? You´re kidding." Sakura stated.

"Am I?" Kakashi then made a hand-seal, and then _walked _up a tree! The other ninjas were surprised, as their sensei stopped walking when he was hanging upside-down from a branch, using only his soles. "Well, you get the idea. Focus your chakra into your soles, and use it to connect to the tree. That´s one way of controlling chakra."

"How does that help us to fight Zabuza?" asked Konran.

"It´s the ONLY way to fight him, Konran. That´s the entire goal of this training. First you send a precise amount of chakra to a precise point of your body; this is difficult even for an advanced ninja. This kind of climbing requires a subtle mix of physical and spiritual energy, and the bottoms of the feet are the most difficult points to focus chakra to. Are you getting the picture? If you can master this, you can master _any_ Jutsu, theoretically. The second point is to learn to maintain your chakra levels. When a ninja is focused in battle, it is even harder to control and maintain his chakra levels, a deadly mistake. To avoid this, maintaining chakra must become a second nature: effortless."

"I can talk about this all day, but that won´t help you train, would it?" he then threw six kunai, one to each of them. "Use them to mark the highest point you can climb without your hands, and then try to get past that mark and the next. At first you need to run at the tree to get a momentum, until you get used to it. Ready?"

Torabu took a kunai. "Childs play!" he boasted and ran towards the tree. He jumped up and ran up the tree with ease. He reached the tall tree´s top, cut a part of it off, placed the kunai in it, and ran back to the ground, landing with style and amazed the others. "So, who´s next?"

After snapping out of their marveling, Team 7 took a kunai each and attempted. They drew their chakra to their feet, and ran towards a tree each. Naruto took two steps up the tree, until he lost his footing and fell.

Sasuke could manage longer, but at a point the tree was pushed slightly, forcing the boy to cut a mark and jump down. _This is harder than I thought. The chakra has to be perfect. If it´s too strong it smashes the tree and pushes you off. And if it´s not strong enough you fall off, like Naruto._

Kakashi had pretty much expected that performance from the two boys.

"This is fun!" Sakura said. They all looked and saw her, high up in a tree, sitting on a branch giggling, and a kunai in the tree.

"Well, looks like the female member of this squad has the best chakra control." Kakashi affirmed, "Well done, Sakura."

The other ninjas also congratulated her, but Sasuke and Sairento scoffed it off as nothing, the former of the two unknowingly disappointing Sakura. _I thought Sasuke would like it, but now he seems mad at me. Why is it always like that? _She then lowered her head.

"Not only does Sakura understand chakra, but she can control and maintain it as well." Kakashi went on. "We spoke about someone becoming Hokage one day, didn´t we? She seems best qualified in my opinion. And as for the great Uchiha clan, maybe it´s not so great after all."

"That´s enough, Sensei!" Torabu defended.

The remaining members of Team 6 looked at each other, and then dashed off towards two trees. They quickly climbed it and marked the point they could reach, before falling down.

After seeing this, Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other determined. _Alright, _Kakashi thought, _they´re motivated. They both have far more chakra within. If the training works, their mastery of chakra could become a valuable asset._

"Hey, Torabu," the mute girl began, "how come you were so good?"

The cat-boy shrugged. "Cats can climb trees, ya know."

"I want an honest answer."

Everyone looked at him. "Alright, if you wanna know, I had a sensei before this."

They were startled at that. "What? Who taught you?" Sakura asked.

"You don´t know him, but one thing´s certain: I didn't like him."

Kakashi looked at him with an interested look in his eyes. "So, he taught you the Chakra Claws and chakra control?"

"I learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu when I saw Naruto do it."

"And the One Thousand Years of Death?"

Torabu snickered. "I learned that when he pissed me off one too many times." The snickering grew louder. "NOW who´s the pain in the ass?"

'_Who could´ve taught him?' _was the question that passed through the other´s minds.

"Whelp, I have already mastered chakra control, so I´m off. See ya!" and with that, he left.

When he was gone, Naruto then started to plan his method of training the chakra control. Meanwhile behind one of the trees, stood Inari and frowned at the event. "What a waste of time, they don´t know what they´re up against," he mumbled as he left. He then remembered the picture of the man he held while crying, and he balled his hands into fists.

* * *

><p>Back in the assassins hideout, Zabuza and Haku had made it back, the former of them laying in a bed and the latter watching over him. The door then opened revealing three people. One was shirtless with an eye patch; the other had lined markings tattooed under his eyes, and was dressed in a blue jacket and a purple hat. Both of them had a sword at their hips.<p>

And the third man was Gato. "Some jonin," he started, "the unbeatable ninja just got beat, limping back home like some pathetic has-been. The demon of the hidden mist? Hah! More like coward of the hidden mist!"

Haku looked threateningly at them. The two bodyguards prepared to draw their swords. "Drawing swords?" Haku asked.

Gato walked over to the bed. "Alright, what have you to say about this fiasco? And don´t play possum, I know you can talk."

He then reached out towards the assassins face, but Haku grabbed his arm. "Keep your filthy hands off him!" he said threateningly and squeezed hard on his arm.

"ARGH! You´re gonna break it!" Gato screamed.

The two bodyguards tensed up and were about to draw their swords, but Haku quickly got between the two, drew their swords and held them at their throats, much to the mooks´ surprise. "Don´t anger me! I´m in a very bad mood!" he warned them.

Gato growled at them, as he and his bodyguards left. "One more chance! That´s all you got! Mess up and I´ll cut you off, and then there´ll be no one left to cover for you!"

"That sure is harsh of you."

They all looked at the newcomer. It was a woman in her twenties. She had Safire-blue eyes, purple hair held in a ponytail, and red lipstick on her lips. She wore a red skintight sleeveless bodysuit, combat boots, and a hidden mist headband around her left upper arm. "They get one more chance, while I haven´t tried yet," she said.

Gato looked at her. "Hmph. If you wanna try then be my guest. I´m outta here!" and then he left.

The woman then walked over to the bed. "Awwww, Zabuza couldn´t handle the task, huh?" she asked mockingly.

Zabuza clutched a kunai he held under the covers, one meant for Gato. "I won´t lose next time!" he responded angrily.

"Just remember the plan," Haku started, "The murders will draw attention, and then they´d be after us again. Gato is our best cover right now, we can kill him later."

"Yeah, yeah," the woman shrugged, "I´m off. Any clues to give on the opposition?"

"One of them has the ears and tail of a cat."

* * *

><p>Back in the clearing, Team 7 was still trying to improve their chakra control. They were the only ones left, after Sairento and Konran had reached the top of their trees. All three of them were tired and exhausted, but they did make little progress.<p>

But in Naruto´s case… not much. Instead of throwing a tantrum, he walked over to Sakura and asked her. "Hey, you´re good at this, how about giving me an advice? But please don´t tell Sasuke I asked."

Kakashi stared at the two. _Now he might get better at this. He does have more chakra than Sasuke after all. In fact, his chakra level is even bigger than my own._

* * *

><p>Torabu was walking by himself in the forest somewhere else. He was deep in thought. <em>Zabuza´s still alive… Is that kid then his ally? This might get troublesome.<em>

His senses then alarmed him, and he jumped away from the spot, avoiding getting skewered by kunai and shuriken. "Who´s there?" he asked.

"Hmph, you´re faster than you look." The person then appeared, revealing to be the woman in Gato´s hideout.

"Who´re you, and why´d you attack me?"

The woman gave an annoying grin. "Takai Ondo, I´m a good friend of Zabuza, you might know him."

"A friend of… You´re with him?"

"Why, yes. We´re teammates. And you must be one of those guarding Tazuna?"

"Yeah, so?"

"You and your friends have caused a lot of trouble for Gato, and I´m here to take you out."

Torabu made hand-seals. "I´d like to see you try! Neko Style: Chakra Claws!" and his energy claws appeared.

Takai was not impressed however. "Typical. I´ll show you who´s the better of us."

Torabu ran towards her, she threw shuriken at him; he jumped up to dodge them and threw a kunai at her, she moved away a little to dodge it. He then dived towards her, and she stabbed him when he was close enough, but he vanished and was replaced by a log. She looked around and saw him jumping from a tree towards her.

"You don´t get it, do you?" she asked as she roundhouse kicked him, but was surprised when he was replaced by another log. She looked around frantically, until Torabu´s kunai was replaced by himself, and he gave her an uppercut into her chin.

"You didn´t get it, did ya?" he asked mockingly.

She stood up, rubbed her chin, and smiled. "You can do a little, then. Fine, I´ll go all out!" she then made hand-seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" and blew a massive fireball at him!

He dodged it by running up a tree, and then he jumped at her, and sank his claws into her stomach! He noticed that she smiled, and then exploded in a burst of flames, searing the cat-boy! He reeled back from the pain.

"That was my Exploding Fire Clone. Quite hot, don´t you agree?" she mocked.

Torabu turned to face her, and saw five of her. He knew that if he attacked the wrong one, he would get burned again. "You´re not the only one that can make clones!" he yelled and made the Shadow Clone Jutsu, creating five clones. "Get `em!" and his clones dashed towards one each of her.

When the clones clashed, all of her clones exploded, taking the other clones with them. "So, they were all clones. I knew that."

"But did you know THIS?" he then found himself caught by five more of her. One held him in a headlock, two held his arms, and the last two held his legs and tail. They all smiled wickedly at him, before exploding, burning the cat-boy even more!

He then lay on the ground, smoke rising from him. He would have gotten up, but Takai – the real one – stepped on him. "I figured as much. You´re one big disappointment. Killing you would be no big deal."

"Why do you… do this?" he coughed.

"Let me tell you."

* * *

><p><em>Fifteen years ago, in a village in the Land of Waves, a school was seen. Inside the building, two jonin were scolding a little girl, who looked like Takai.<em>

"_You´re a disappointment!" one of them yelled, "You´re good for nothing!"_

_The girl looked down on the floor._

"_Now now, take it easy," the other tried to reason, "She isn´t good for nothing, she can do something."_

"_Yeah, something not meant to be learnt! She uses primarily fire techniques! She refuses to use any water techniques!"_

_The girl was on the verge of crying._

"_Relax! I´m sure she have a good reason." He kneeled down to face her. "Tell us, Takai, why won´t you use water techniques?"_

_She looked at him. "I-It´s because I don´t see water as more powerful than fire…" she sobbed._

"_What bullshit!" the other man cursed, "Fire is extinguished by water! And water techniques are the pride of our land! She´s betraying our very land!"_

_She broke down crying._

"_Will you shut up? She´s only a little girl!" the kinder man defended._

"_She is the First Mizukage´s granddaughter! The grandchild of our first leader, and she don´t know how to use water techniques! What a disgrace!"_

"_Can… Can I go home now?" she asked whilst crying._

"_Sure, this conversation is getting too rough."_

_She then left the building. She was on her way home, when two other girls approached her._

"_Why, hello Takai. Were you scolded again?" one of them asked mockingly._

_Takai didn´t answer._

"_You did, didn´t you?" the other asked, also mockingly. "You were scolded because you couldn´t perform a water technique at your exam. If you keep this up, you´ll never become a ninja like us."_

"_Leave me alone…" Takai said almost in a whisper._

"_Yeah, you´ll become the town´s biggest joke!"_

"_Stop it…!"_

"_You´re wrong, she´s a joke now, she´ll become a loser then."_

"_Get away from me!" Takai then ran home, crying all the way._

_She then arrived at her home, where her only family – her father – waited for her. She entered and went to the living room. She saw her father sitting in a chair._

"_Did you pass?" he asked and took a sip from a bottle of sake._

"_N-No," she stammered._

_Her father then threw the bottle, walked up to her, and held her up by the collar. "Why can´t you do a single thing right? It´s a water technique! ANY water technique can be used to pass that exam! How dare you call yourself for the First Mizukage´s granddaughter when you can´t do a single water technique?"_

_She then had enough, and delivered a weak kick to his shin. It didn´t hurt him, but it did enrage him. "THAT´S IT!" he then brutally attacked her._

_After five minutes of abuse, he then threw her out of the house. "And stay the hell out!" he yelled and slammed the door._

_She picked herself up, and while crying, she ran away._

* * *

><p>"I ran out of the village, never wanting to see it again. I was alone, until one day…"<p>

* * *

><p><em>8 years later, Takai could be seen in a forest clearing, hungry, cold and alone. She was thinking of how miserable her life was now. <em>It wouldn´t have happened if… if…_ she then broke down crying._

_That´s when two people approached her. She looked at them and saw that they were a masked man and a small feminine-looking boy. "What´s wrong?" asked the boy._

"_I live a hell, that´s what," she replied._

"_Tell us what happened."_

"_I´ve been shunned by my village. My teachers hate me, the children insult me, and my father assaulted me. I´ve been alone for 8 years now."_

_The boy looked saddened, and then he looked at the man. "Zabuza, can we take her with us?"_

_The man, Zabuza when he was younger, looked at her, then at him. "I don´t know, Haku, she might not be much worth to us."_

_Haku then retaliated. "But she´s all alone. Can´t she come along?"_

_Zabuza sighed. "Fine." He then looked at her. "Do you want to join us?"_

_Takai looked at them with surprise in her eyes. "Really? Sure!"_

"_What´s your name then?"_

"_I´m Takai Ondo!" she answered, now happy._

* * *

><p>"Haku… so THAT´S the tracker ninja´s name!" Torabu figured.<p>

Takai put a little more pressure on his back. "After I joined them, my life became a little better. We lived as assassins for hire and became well-known."

"So you got a happy ending, so what?"

"The happy ending didn´t start before I had some payback last year."

* * *

><p><em>The year before, in Takai´s home village, it was aflame! Houses burned to the ground. Corpses were littering the streets. The only one living was a middle-aged man.<em>

_He ran away from someone, bleeding all the while. He ran into an alley, but it was an impasse. He turned around, a look of horror on his face, as he stared at his pursuer, a young woman._

"_Why are you doing this?" he asked panicked._

"_My, that´s no way to treat me. You went from abusive to horrorstricken in just 14 years," the woman replied._

"_D-Do I know you?" he asked confused._

_The woman walked towards him. "Hm… you called me a disgrace, assaulted me, left me alone to die… but then again," she looked him in the eyes and showed her face, "I´m the biggest joke of the town, being the First Mizukage´s granddaughter after all."_

_The man´s eyes widened. "T-Takai? I thought you were dead!"_

_Takai smiled wickedly. "I know what you are, but what am I?"_

_A scream was then heard from the alley, and Takai walked out, her red outfit covered in blood. She chuckled and looked at the burning village. "What´s strongest now, water or fire?" and then she laughed._

* * *

><p>"So you killed your people and burned down your village?" the cat-boy asked.<p>

"They never were nice to me, so I had a good reason to do it. Plus it was a good loophole to use against ANBU." She responded and stepped off him.

Torabu used this moment to get up and throw a left punch at her, but she grabbed it, swung her right leg over his shoulder, and looked him in the eyes.

"You know, you´re a good fighter. If this was a different world, we might have been friends, allies perhaps." She then broke his left arm!

He screamed out in pain and clutched his left arm. She then held him closer. "Now, I´m gonna end this, but…" she smirked, "you look so innocent, so pure. I don´t think you´ve ever kissed a girl before."

"What the hell does that matter, you- mph!" he was cut off when she _kissed _him! She forced her tongue into his mouth and liked his teeth. He blushed at this; he would never want to kiss one from the enemy side!

She ended the kiss and looked at him. "There, now you´re less innocent. I would now have no regrets in doing this." she punched him in the stomach, and while he was doubling over, she charged a big fireball in her hands! "Fire Style: Volcano Blast!" and with that, she fired it at him!

He looked up too late; the fireball reached him and exploded upon contact, sending him flying! "AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!" he screamed.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Team 7 and Kakashi have returned to Tazuna´s home, enjoying dinner. Inari ate before they returned, and was now in his room. The six ninjas, their client and his daughter were eating some sushi.<p>

Sakura looked out the window at the darkening sky. "I wonder where Torabu is."

"He might be somewhere in town, making trouble." Naruto assumed.

"Or training more techniques with that old sensei of his." Konran countered.

"Does anyone of you know why he looks like that?" asked Tsunami.

All of them looked at her and shook their heads. "All we know is the Hokage took him into the village ten years ago." Kakashi explained.

"Back when he was two years old?" asked Naruto surprised.

"Yes, the Hokage was walking outside the town, when he found a strange-looking boy crying all alone. He decided to take him in, and the rest is history."

They ate in silence afterwards, until they heard a crash outside. "What was that?" asked Tazuna.

"We´ll check." Then Sakura, Sairento and Tsunami walked outside. What followed was a scream, and then they returned, carrying a badly burnt Torabu. He was gasping and wheezing in pain.

"Torabu! What happened to you?" asked a shocked Naruto.

They laid him on a futon, and gathered around him. "Stand back!" the mute girl ordered, and made hand-seals. "Josei Secret Technique: Healing Hands!" her hands then gloved a gentle green, and when she touched him with her palms, the burnt marks and wounds started to disappear!

She healed him as best as she could – including his broken arm – but he was still in pain. "Who could´ve done this to him?" Kakashi wondered aloud.

"…Za…Za…Za…" the cat-boy gasped, then he looked at them, "Zabuza have another ally… she attacked me…" and then he lost consciousness.

"This does not look good." Kakashi frowned.

* * *

><p>dopliss: This was properly the darkest chapter thus far. But we got a new O. C., so let´s introduce her!<p>

_**Name: **__Takai Ondo._

_**Age: **__21._

_**Author´s nickname: **__The fiery female._

_**Gender: **__Female._

_**Race: **__Human._

_**Height: **__1.96 M._

_**Weight: **__53 kg._

_**Appearance: **__Purple hair in a ponytail, Safire-blue eyes, red lipstick on lips._

_**Clothing: **__Red skintight sleeveless bodysuit, combat boots, headband around left upper arm._

_**Abilities: **__Ninja skills, elemental affinity: fire, distracting nature._

_**Weaknesses: **__Have difficulty in trusting someone fast, can´t stand mongooses._

_**Relatives: **__Father (deceased), the First Mizukage (fate unknown)_

_**Bio: **__After her family moved away from the village hidden in the mist, they tried to settle down. When Takai was born, her mother died upon giving birth, earning her father´s hatred. She was quite intelligent, but her skills were far from acceptable by her fellow villagers. At the age of five, she tried to take the exam but failed. She explained her back-story in this chapter. After joining Haku and Zabuza, she sees them as her only loving family._

dopliss: And now for a poll! Take it away, Mizuki!

Mizuki: He wants to know if you want him to start on a different story in O. C. Chronicles, or stay focused on this one. The poll ends next update, so respond until then!

dopliss: (sweats) But until then, I´ll have to go back to school!


	8. Chapter 8 Backstory and nightmares

**dopliss: Alright, guys, it´s next update, so the poll is now closed!**

**Mizuki: What´s the result?**

**dopliss: I´m glad that you say that. The entire week, this poll had remained untouched… until recently, where someone voted, and he was the ONLY one to vote! Is this story THAT unpopular?**

**Mizuki: Get to the point!**

**dopliss: Furthermore, do you know who that guy was? ME! I had to make that vote! But the result is as follows…**

**Mizuki: Finally.**

**dopliss: …right after this chapter.**

**Mizuki: Oh, come on!**

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto-san is the rightful owner of Naruto, I own original content.**

**A/n: I´m sorry to Naruto fans if I disappoint you.**

* * *

><p>The following day in the Land of Waves, construction was going underway on the bridge, and the sounds of cranes cranking were ever present. Conveyer belts were lifted, bolts were tightened, nails were hammered, and grown men were talking loudly to each other.<p>

Also on the bridge sat a tired Sakura, yawning due to boredom. After proving her chakra control during yesterday´s tree climbing exercise, she didn´t have to practice more. The same goes to Sairento, Konran, and a still injured Torabu, the latter lying unconsciously back in Tazuna´s residence.

"You´re always this lazy?" asked said bridge builder, as he passed the pink-haired ninja. "Where´s the yellow-haired kid, the masked girl, the well behaving kid, and the one with the attitude?"

"Naruto and Sasuke are in the forest, training," Sakura answered, "and Konran went off to somewhere in the town. Sairento is at your house, treating…"

"The cat-boy…" Tazuna then lowered his head and sighed. He then looked at her. "Why are you here? Is the training too much for you?"

She smirked and shrugged. "No, in fact, I´m the best! That´s why Sensei sent me here to guard you."

Tazuna gave her a disappointed look. "You´re joking." That statement annoyed the young girl.

He then went back to work, when another builder approached him. "Tazuna, we need to talk," he said. "The thing is, I´ve been thinking a lot about the bridge, and I´ve decided I have pushed my luck far enough, I´m out."

Tazuna didn´t take it well. "WHAT? You´re going to quit on me now, just like that? You´re kiddin´!"

"You know, I´ve stayed here all along because of our friendship, but I´m putting my life on the line every day I stay here. Gato and his thugs will show up, eventually." He looked at him with sorrow in his eyes. "And when they do, they´ll kill you, and the bridge will never be finished, anyway. It´s a lost cause, Tazuna, why don´t we stop now, while we still can get out of this alive?"

Sakura stared interested at the master bridge builder, waiting for his response. He then answered. "No chance. This is _our _bridge. Our island is poor, and it will stay that way until the bridge connects us to the mainland. Comers, trade and hope, _that´s_ what we´re building here!"

"It´s not gonna be much hope if we´re all dead."

Tazuna then walked off. "It´s already noon, lunch break."

The man looked at his friend. "Tazuna, let´s not end it like this."

Tazuna looked back at him. "Save your breath. Oh, and Giichi, don´t bother coming back after lunch." He then walked off.

Sakura looked at the scene, worry in her eyes.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in the forest, Naruto and Sasuke were still trying to climb the trees all the way to the top. Both boys were tired and – in Naruto´s case – bruised from the high falls.<p>

Both boys then looked at each other, and were determined to surpass the other. _I´m not gonna lose to you! _Naruto thought.

They then dashed off towards their respective trees, and ran up along the tall trunks.

* * *

><p>Home at Tazuna´s, it was quiet. Sairento sat at Torabu´s side, using her healing technique to ease his pains. Kakashi and Tsunami sat in the room, looking with concern. The cat-boy himself, lay under the covers on his back, stripped down to only his boxers – the only particle of his clothing that wasn´t burned, while the rest would be sewn back together by the lady of the house – writhing in pain.<p>

"How is he?" asked Tsunami worried.

The mute girl stood up and turned around. "All wounds and bones are healed, but he is still asleep. It might last for days."

The sensei sighed in relief. "Good. Now we just have to wait."

Tsunami then started to work on the burnt pants, after having finished the headband straps. Her son was in his room, after having said something rude about the young troublemaker.

Sairento looked at the sleeping boy. _Poor guy…_ she thought. _To end up like that… what could have happened to you? I don´t even know who this person was. Was that person strong, so I should feel horrible about leaving you alone… or weak, so I should hate you for letting that happen to you?_

"Sairento," Kakashi started, "I know this might look grim, but we need to stay calm and focused on the mission. Zabuza will recover at any moment any day, and it will be very difficult fighting him."

"Understood, Sensei." Sairento responded. "But still, who do you think-?"

"No…stop…"

The three of them looked at the source of the voice, and found out that it belonged to Torabu. The unconscious boy was talking in his sleep.

Why? He had a nightmare.

* * *

><p><em>Torabu was in the darkness. He noticed something was odd. One thing was that he was two years old; another was that, despite the darkness, he could see a flicker of light.<em>

_Deciding nothing could be an alternative, he walked towards the light. As he came closer, the light seemed to be a spot on the ground, instead of a field or gate._

_He was then at the lighted spot, and that´s when his eyes widened in horror. Before him, on the spot, lay two torn corpses, a man and a woman! The man had his stomach cut open, intestines sprayed outside of him. The woman had her right arm and legs torn off. Torabu noticed they were holding hands, and on their faces were vertical lines going from their eyes, showing that they had cried._

_He then felt a sharp pain in the heart, tears were welling up in his eyes, and he knew why: these corpses… were those of someone he lost at the age of two… his mom and dad._

_He fell down to his knees, sorrow overcoming him, and he started to cry. "No… they´re gone… gone… GONE…! I´m all alone…!" he wailed._

_Suddenly, silhouettes of people appeared around him, talking with each other, not giving a single thought or look of the corpses and their crying son. Said son looked at them in shock. "Why are you not looking?" He stood up. "Don´t you see what´s going on? Look! My mom and dad are dead! They were killed! Murdered! Look at them! Look at me! PAY ATTENTION TO US, DAMN YOU!"_

_He then looked at his parents, fell down to his knees, and sobbed, letting his tears fall from his face. "Mom… Dad… Come back to me!"_

* * *

><p>He had said all of those things in his sleep, and was also crying. The people around him looked at him with sadness and pity.<p>

Behind the mask, Sairento let some of her own tears roll down her face. _Losing your parents when you were so young… poor, poor you._

* * *

><p>On a rooftop somewhere in the town, Konran sat deep in thought. <em>Torabu was attacked yesterday. Due to how he looked when he was found, I assume he was assaulted by one that primarily uses fire techniques. But if it was a friend of Zabuza, shouldn´t it have been a water ninja? <em>He scratched his chin. _The elements are complete opposites of each other. Wait! _He came to a realization. _Zabuza uses water techniques, and this ninja uses fire techniques. And Kakashi-sensei stated that the tracker ninja could be allied with them… Maybe that kid has an element that somehow connects the two. Now let´s see… fire is beaten by water… so what have with water to do that also reacts with fire? _His eyes narrowed in thought, as a chilly wind blew at him. _It sure is cold up here. Wait, cold… _his eyes then widened in realization. _That´s it!_

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in the poor streets of the hidden mist village, Tazuna and Sakura were walking along together.<p>

"Um, where are we going?" asked Sakura.

"You wanna eat tonight, don´t cha´?" Tazuna replied. "I gotta pick up some things for dinner."

The streets were indeed pitiful. It was full of people that were so desperate to work that some walked around with signs that said stuff like 'Will do any kind of work', and some had to steal to survive. Sakura pitied the people – some of them being young homeless boys. _What´s wrong with these people?_

They arrived at a grocery shop, which looked no better than the streets. It hardly had anything to sell. The only things to notice were _very_ few vegetables. _This is a store? There´s nothing here. _Sakura thought.

A man walked up behind her. Noticing her bag, he decided to try his luck. Accidently, he touched a part of her body, resulting in a very shocked and angry Sakura kicking him hard while screaming "YOU PERVERT!"

They were later on the streets again, heading home while talking about what happened in the store. "You surprised me back there," Tazuna started, "girls around here don´t fight like that."

"They should, something´s seriously wrong here!" replied Sakura, still angry over the man´s 'groping'.

She then felt someone grabbing her dress from behind. Thinking it´s another 'pervert', she spun around-

-only to face a small girl dressed in rags. "Please…" the girl said, and held her hands in front of her, begging for something.

Sakura, having few tears form in her eyes, dug into her bag, and gave the girl candy. The girl thanked her and ran off.

"This is how it´s been since Gato showed up." Tazuna stated sadly. "Children suffer, and adults are too scared to stand up to him. We´ve lost all hope, that´s why we need to finish the bridge. It would bring comers and trade, but much more important, that bridge is a symbol of courage. We must restore the spirit of our people! When the bridge is finished, people will start to believe in him. They´ll believe that they can live in dignity. We can´t let Gato stop us!"

Sakura was convinced now. _Sasuke, Naruto, we have to help them!_

* * *

><p>The two boys were in the meantime pushing themselves to their very limit. Naruto could run far up the tree, but Sasuke ran even farther up. The former was annoyed that he was the inferior one of the two, while the latter was peeved over that Naruto was slowly catching up to him.<p>

_No! I can´t think that way! _Naruto thought. _If I do, I´ll never catch up, believe it! Come on, Naruto, concentration._

He then thought back to yesterday.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey, you´re good at this, how about some advice?" he asked Sakura.<em>

"_Alright," she began, "chakra requires spiritual energy, so if you get all anxious and frantic, it doesn´t work. You have to relax, and totally focus on the tree, that´s how you get a steady chakra flow to the bottoms of your feet."_

* * *

><p><em>Relax… focus on the tree… <em>he then felt a surge of energy flow into his feet. _I think it´s working!_ He was then going to run towards the tree…

"Hey, Naruto!" Only to be unexpectedly interrupted by Sasuke, resulting in losing his balance, and falling face first into the ground.

"What are you doing?" yelled Naruto. "I was trying to focus my chakra!"

"Well, you see… the thing is…"

"The thing is what?" asked Naruto suspicious.

"You talked to Sakura earlier… so what did she tell you?"

Naruto got a big grin on his face, before answering. "I´m not telling you." The statement annoyed the other boy.

* * *

><p>Later, our heroes were all gathered in their client´s house, eating along with him and his family.<p>

Tazuna chuckled a little. "Well, this is fantastic. It has been ages since we had so many guests at the table."

Naruto and Sasuke had decided to throw their good manners out the window, and were now in the middle of gobbling down their food. "I want some more!" they both exclaimed at the same time they emptied their bowls. They then glared at each other, right before throwing up, much to the others´ disgust.

"Don´t eat so much that you´re gonna puke it up!" scolded Sakura.

The two boys were, sadly, too thickheaded to listen. The conscious members of Team 6 just ignored it, and Kakashi admitted that while eating was important, it wouldn´t help puking it out.

After the meal, most of them were seated at a table near Torabu. Some of them were drinking tea, but Konran wanted to drink something else. He went over to the fridge, opened it, took a carton of milk, and was on his way back to the table, but stopped and noticed a picture.

The picture was of Tazuna´s family, with the bridge builder crouched down in the left, Inari standing and smiling in the middle, and Tsunami on the right, also crouched down. What was most interesting about the picture was that there seemed to be someone standing behind Tsunami, ruffling Inari´s hair. The part showing the person´s torso and head was missing.

"Excuse me," Konran started, "this picture is torn, is there some reason for that?" He turned around. "Inari, I noticed you have stared at this picture the whole dinner. It looks like there is someone else in this picture, but it got torn out. Strange isn´t it?"

There was a little silence in the room, until Tsunami broke it. "It was my husband."

"They used to call him a hero in this land." Tazuna stated.

Inari then rose from his seat, and left without a word. Worried, Tsunami went after him. When she stood in the doorway, she looked at the old man. "Father, you can´t talk about him like that in front of Inari, you know that!" and then she left.

"Is there any story behind this?" asked Kakashi.

"He wasn´t his real father, he came into our family later," Tazuna began, "and he brought much happiness, he and Inari were very close. In those days, Inari used to laugh all the time." He balled his fists and tensed up. "But then… all that ended. He never laughs or smiles anymore. Ever since that day, everything changed. The word 'courage' was stolen from this island, we were left feeling powerless, hopeless, and Inari suffered the most. Ever since that day, ever since that thing happened."

"Tell us." Sairento said, "What happened to Inari?"

"First, you need to know about the man, his father. The man who taught us the word 'courage', who was a hero in this land." The old man wiped his eyes clean of tears. "You can decide if he´s a hero for yourself, it all started three years ago…"

* * *

><p><em>The Land of Waves, three years earlier.<em>

"_Pochi! Pochi, no!"_

_The voice belonged to a younger Inari, who was being restrained by two bullies on a pier. A third bully stood in front of him, holding a small white dog. The dog barked in response._

"_That´s not his name," the third bully said, "starting today, his name is Shooting Star, and he´s MY dog now."_

"_No, he´s not! He´s MY dog, and his name´s not Shooting Star! I´ve had him since he was a puppy, he´s my friend, and he doesn´t belong to you!" Inari then tried to get free, but the bullies held him in place._

"_You shut up!" said the third bully. He then looked at Pochi, and then threw it into the ocean!_

_Inari stared in horror, as his dog was yelping and struggling to stay alive. "You see what happens when you don´t listen to me?" the third bully asked. "Now I´m not gonna lift a finger to help him. Okay, you can let him go."_

_The bullies then let go of Inari. "Why did you do that?" he asked, "Now he´s gonna drown!"_

"_Bah, if it´s your dog, then jump in to get him. Be a big hero and save your friend. After all that big talk, you´re not gonna let him drown, are you?"_

_Inari was afraid. He bend down over the side of the pier, and tried to grab his beloved dog. He couldn´t even reach the water, and – over the bullies´ taunts – he knew that he couldn´t swim. _I´m sorry, Pochi!

"_Well, if you go and make a big deal about him," the third bully walked behind him, "then go get him!" and he kicked him into the water!_

_While Inari was trying desperately to keep his head above the water, the other two bullies went up to their friend. "I think you went too far, Akane," one of them said, "I mean, he could really drown, or something."_

_But despite the boy´s screams for help, Akane was cold. He and his cronies then left._

"_I don´t wanna die!" Inari screamed. He then saw Pochi dogpaddle off to shore, leaving his owner behind._

* * *

><p>"Interestingly enough, at that exact moment, Pochi figured out how to dogpaddle."<p>

* * *

><p><em>When Pochi was on the shore, he shook himself dry and ran off, shoving he had no loyalty to his owner.<em>

"_Hey, Shooting Star´s getting away! Get him!" and the bullies were off._

_Inari then ran out of strength, and sank._

_When he came to, he was at a campfire. "Waking up, huh? Finally." said the voice of a grown man._

_Inari sat up, and saw his rescuer, in the middle of cooking fish. The man had spiky black hair, black eyes, and a scar across his chin. He wore beige pants, a dark-blue robe, and a white rope tied around his forehead. "I had a little talk with those kids, they won´t bother you again." He said, and offered a fish. "Here, eat."_

_Inari was surprised that he was living. "Did you pull me out of the water, mister?" he asked._

"_Have a bite to eat first, and then we can talk all about it."_

_While they were eating, Inari told the man all about what happened. "Hmm, I see." The man said. "So, your dog abandoned you too, huh? In my country, dogs are loyal to their masters, standing by them no matter what. But then again, you abandoned your dog first, so what can you expect?"_

_Inari lowered his head in sadness. "I wanted to save him, but I froze. I was just so scared. I guess I don´t have any courage."_

_The man laid a hand on top of Inari´s head. "Hey, c´mon, don´t be so hard on yourself, I used to be a kid too, I was also scared when I was your age. It´s no big deal, but remember this: live your life so you have nothing to regret. If you really care about something, protect it. No matter how tough, no matter how sad, you got to keep trying. Even if you have to put your life on the line, protect it with both arms, never give in!"_

_Inari was very impressed by that speech._

* * *

><p>"His name was Kaiza; he was a simple fisherman, who came from another land to follow his dreams. After that, he and Inari were inseparable. The boy had never known his real father, so you can imagine what it meant to him, to have Kaiza in his life. He looked up to him, and followed in his footsteps, like a real father and son. Kaiza spent more and more time with us, until – naturally – he became a member of the family. And then, when this town needed him, he became something more."<p>

* * *

><p><em>It was a rainy night in the village. A man ran towards Tazuna´s residence. He burst through the door, and yelled for Kaiza.<em>

"_The floodgate´s opened and the water´s rising! If we don´t stop it, the lower district will be flooded!" the man yelled._

"_What? Inari, give me some rope, hurry!" Kaiza ordered._

_At the floodgate, many people were gathered and talking about what to do. "See where the gate is? We need to get a line out there to close it!" one stated._

"_A line? You´d have to swim out there to do it! It´s impossible! No one can make it through that current!" another said._

"_If we don´t do it, the entire district will be wiped away!"_

"_I´ll do it!"_

_The last sentence came from Kaiza, who just arrived._

_Inari was worried, but his father put a hand on his head and smiled. "Don´t worry. Nothing can stop your dad. This is our village, so we gotta do all we can to help."_

_Kaiza tied the rope he brought along around his waist, and prepared to jump into the current. He then jumped in, and swam as strong as he could to close the gate. While that happened, Inari remembered what he was told the day he and Kaiza first met. _If you really care about something, protect it. No matter how tough, no matter how sad, you got to keep trying. Even if you have to put your life on the line, protect it with both arms, never give in!"

"_Father, I know you can do it!" he then yelled._

_Kaiza managed to get to the gate, and held onto it, as the villagers pulled the rope and helped to close the gate._

* * *

><p>"From then on, he was known as a hero. He taught us all the meaning of courage, and Inari was so proud to be his son. But it wasn´t short after, that Gato and his men showed up. They took over. They terrorized the whole village, only Kaiza stood up to them. Gato couldn´t have a hero to stand in his way, it took his whole gang to stop <em>one <em>man."

* * *

><p><em>In a warehouse in the village late at night, Kaiza sat bound and beaten on a chair. Gato and his men stood before him.<em>

"_You overplayed your hand, Kaiza," the little man gloated, "all that you said about how you were going to protect this village with your two arms. They don´t look so useful now." He was right, Kaiza´s arms weren´t useful as long as he was bound. "You still got that divine look in your eyes, though. Well, my men will get rid of that. Get him!"_

_Two of the biggest men then walked over to Kaiza with big mallets in their hands. They raised them, and swung them, breaking the hero´s arms!_

_The next morning, the villagers were gathered around a circle marked by a ring of fences. In the middle of it, stood Gato and Kaiza, the latter hanging on a small trunk._

"_Listen up!" Gato started. "This man had defied the Gato Corporation; he has disturbed the order of this land. We have brought you here to witness his punishment. Let this be an example so you won´t oppose us, ever again."_

_Inari was in shock. His father was in the clutches of a terrible man. "Inari, calm down!" Giichi tried to ease the boy._

_Gato gave the order…_

_His sword-wielding bodyguards raised their blades…_

"_DADDY!" Inari yelled…_

_And the strike was delivered._

_Inari was then crying in sadness, fear, and anger. _You said that you´d protect this village… You said you would do it with both of your arms… You made me believe that… but it was all just a lie…

* * *

><p>"Since then, Inari´s changed. So did Tsunami and the rest of this village. We lost our will." Tazuna finished.<p>

Naruto remembered what Inari said about heroes, and how he cried with his father´s picture in his hands. He then tried to walk off, but he could barely walk.

"You shouldn´t go train, Naruto, you used up too much chakra. If you push yourself any harder, it might be the end of you." Kakashi advised.

"I´ll prove it!" Naruto said, straightening up. "I´ll prove that in this world, there are _real _heroes!"

Konran cleared his throat. "Yes, but in the meantime, why don´t we all relax?" He then lifted the carton of milk. "Does anyone of you want some?"

Sairento and Sakura raised their hands. "We´d love some." the latter said.

"Okay." He passed the milk to them. "But I must warn you girls, though."

"Why?" Sakura asked as she poured some milk into her empty teacup and gave the carton to the mute girl.

"Well, I heard that if women drink too much of it," Sakura looked at him mid-sip, "they will lactate in an early age."

When she heard Konran say that, she spat out the milk in shock, and went ballistic on him. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT KIND OF THING TO SAY TO A GIRL?" she roared as she assaulted him.

"Argh! Help! Angry woman on the loose!" Konran screamed.

Sairento, who held the carton slightly tilted, looked at it. Then she sat it on the table and pushed it away. _It´s best to be on the safe side._

"GAAAAH!"

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at the source of the scream: Torabu. The cat-boy were sweating a lot, and tossing and turning on the futon.

* * *

><p><em>A seven year old Torabu ran away from something, panicked beyond belief.<em>

"_COME BACK HERE, BOY!" a demonic voice boomed._

"_No! I don´t wanna! I don´t like it!" answered the young cat-boy._

_A huge clawed hand then appeared, and caught Torabu, who was now screaming in pure fear._

"_YOU _WILL _GO THROUGH THIS, AND YOU _WILL _GO THROUGH IT AGAIN AND AGAIN, UNTIL YOU LEARN TO FINALLY UNDERSTAND!" the voice boomed, as the hand dragged him over a huge pit._

"_No! Please no! Not in there!" the young boy pleaded in panic._

"_YES, IN THERE!" And the hand dropped him into the pit._

_Torabu landed hard. He got up and covered in fear. Loud growls were then heard, and out of nowhere, ten gigantic dogs of different race appeared! They lashed and bit after him, but he jumped to dodge getting impaled by their huge claws and teeth. At one point he didn´t land good enough, he lost his balance, and one of the dogs took the opportunity to snatch him up by its canines. The ten dogs then slung him around, as if he was a mere dog toy or a piece of meat, and tore him apart in the process!_

_He screamed as his arms, legs and tail were torn apart from his body and eaten. When he was only an armless torso, the hand returned and took him. "YOU FAIL! AND YOU WILL ALWAYS FAIL! THIS IS THE PRICE FOR FAILURE!" the voice boomed again. The hand then tossed Torabu up into the air, and he screamed as he saw the ground get closer. One of the dogs opened its big mouth, and he landed in it, getting eaten!_

* * *

><p>Torabu kept sweating, as his friends circled around him. "Poor guy…" Naruto pitied.<p>

"He must experience something very frightening and painful." Kakashi assumed.

Torabu then turned around, and that´s when Sakura noticed something. "Hey, what´s that on his back?"

Sasuke removed the covers from his back, and what they found surprised them. It was some form of tattoo, it looked like a clawed hand surrounded by two black circles – the first bigger than the other – and a kanji in the middle of the hand.

"I didn´t know he had that." Kakashi wondered.

"What is it, Sensei?" asked Naruto.

"It´s a seal… What it is used for, I don´t know."

Sairento looked at the kanji. "The kanji is for 'ice'. What does that mean?"

"Let´s ask him when he awakens." Sasuke stated. After agreeing with him, they covered his back again, and left.

Long after they were gone off to bed, the seal on the cat-boy´s back gloved light-green for a second.

* * *

><p>dopliss: Alright, this was a little flashback chapter. Don´t worry, I´ll skip the unnecessary flashback episodes, so don´t fret at a-<p>

Mizuki: (yelling into dopliss´ ear) THE POLL RESULT! WHAT´S THE POLL RESULT?

dopliss: Oh yeah, thanks. (Smacks Mizuki with a mallet) The result is… I´ll work on another story while working on this! So I´ll upload a chapter for a separate story each time. So expect the first chapter for "O. C. Chronicles 2 of 22: Grand Pokegirl adventure"! Yeah, you heard me. I´ll make a Pokegirl story. So expect it to be rated M.

Mizuki: Oh, I can´t wait to participate in that!

dopliss: Okay, A: you´re not gonna be there, and B: participate? All you do is walk around like a lazy bum, eating all of my snacks, which I forbid you to do, mind you. (To readers) See you next time, either here or story two!


	9. Chapter 9 Bridge fight

**dopliss: After starting on my next story last time, I´ll also work on this one.**

**Mizuki: Oh, how I wish I could be there as you write that story.**

**dopliss: Team Rocket have taken your place in it.**

**Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns this fic, and I own Naruto. Oops, sorry! It´s the other way around!**

**A/n: Have I done anything wrong yet, Naruto fans? If so, I´m sorry!**

* * *

><p>In Gato´s hideout, early the next, next morning, Haku was preparing to go out. He needed to disguise himself first, though.<p>

He loosened the bun his long hair was tied into, letting it all fall down to his back.

"Going out, Haku?" a voice asked him. He turned around to face Takai, who was leaning on a wall.

"I´m going out to gather some herbs to Zabuza," he answered, "stay here and hold the fort."

"Tch, whatever."

Haku then changed his clothing, going from his usual outfit to his noncombat outfit. The new outfit consisted of a pink sleeveless, low-cut kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-colored swirls that went to his ankles. Around his waist was a simple white obi tied in a bow, and he wore a pair of light brown sandals with dark straps. To add to his feminine appearance, he also wore a dark choker around his neck. Now he looked more like a woman.

He then started to walk out. Takai smiled and waved at him. "Don´t stay out too late and don´t walk off with any stray boys!" she mocked in a motherly voice.

* * *

><p>Later in a forest clearing, Haku was picking the herbs he was looking for, already having a half basket full. A bird landed on his shoulder, and he smiled at it.<p>

The bird then flew off, as he noticed something. It was Naruto, laying near the tree he had been training on the whole night. He was unconscious, and birds walked on him.

Haku looked at him in confusion, until he saw the headband he was wearing. He knew he was one of the ninjas that battled Zabuza.

He narrowed his eyes, as he remembered their first encounter, and how angry Naruto had been.

He then walked over to him, the birds flew away, and he reached down to the unconscious boy.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in Tazuna´s house, everyone was just waking up. "Good morning, everyone." Sakura yawned.<p>

She sat at the table, where the others were as well, and accepted the cup of tea offered by Tsunami. "Naruto´s not here? Looks like he was out all night again." Tazuna stated.

Naruto had been training all night after hearing Inari´s story, and the night after.

"He´s gone completely crazy, he´s climbing trees in the dark." Sakura groaned. "He can be dead by now, for using up all of his chakra."

"Well I certainly hope he´s okay." Tsunami stated. "A child all alone in the woods…"

"There´s nothing to worry about," Kakashi assured, "Naruto´s a goofy kid, but also a fully fledged ninja, he can handle himself."

"Sakura´s right," Sasuke began, "Naruto is such a loser, he´s probably lying out there dead somewhere." He then stood up and walked away. "I´m going for a walk."

"But we´ve just started eating!" Sakura then looked at his plate, to see it was empty. "That was fast."

"Looks like Naruto and Torabu are not the only big eaters around here." Konran mused.

"Speaking of which, when do you think your friend will wake up?" asked Tsunami.

"Who knows." He responded.

Inari hadn´t touched the fish on his plate. He looked downwards in worry.

* * *

><p>Back in the clearing, Haku reached down to grab Naruto´s neck…<p>

…but decided against it. He shook his shoulder instead. "You´ll catch a cold if you sleep here, wake up." He said.

Naruto awoke, and saw this "woman" near him. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Who the heck are you?" he asked tiredly. He then took a proper look at her, and blushed a little. "Oh, I mean, hi, what´re you doing out here? Where did you come from?"

"I´m gathering herbs." Haku answered.

"Herbs?"

Haku smiled at him. "Yes, for treating illness and heal wounds."

"You start working early, huh?"

"I like it early. It´s calm, but I didn´t think I´d find someone sleeping out here in the woods."

Naruto gave "her" a big grin and laughed. "I´m training."

Haku pretended to be surprised. "So you´re a ninja? I noticed the headband you´re wearing. Or are you just making a fashion statement?"

Naruto blushed a little more. "You noticed that? Alright! Only super special ninjas like me can wear them!"

"Oh, really? I see, that is very impressive. But does that mean you´re training for something dangerous?"

"I´m just developing my skills, so I can get stronger."

"You seem very strong now, isn´t that enough?"

"No, no, I need to get stronger, I have to keep practicing!"

Haku narrowed his eyes a little. "How so?"

"So I can become the best ninja in my village! Then everyone will know who I am, and start respecting me! There´s also a certain person – a kid – that I´ll have to prove something to!"

"So you´re doing this for that person, or are you doing this for yourself?"

Naruto seemed confused, and the "woman" giggled. "Hey, what´s so funny?" he asked.

"Is there someone who is precious to you?" Haku asked.

"Someone who´s… What do you mean with 'precious'?"

A little silence fell upon them, as Haku remembered his past.

* * *

><p><em>It was snowing in an unknown village. A young boy, Haku, sat on the streets, freezing and starving.<em>

_A man threw a bag in a dumpster, and Haku saw this as an opportunity to get some food remains. He ran up to it and scratched at the bag, when a dog growled at him, also wanting the bag´s contents._

_Haku looked at it-_

_-and _kicked _it! The dog whimpered as it got hit._

_Haku then returned to the bag, when he heard two more sets of growls. He looked and saw two more dogs, puppy dogs to be exact. They seemed to be the first dog´s puppies, the latter now getting up and growling as well._

_Haku left the area, and later sat on a bridge, looking at his feet. Someone then neared him. It was a younger Zabuza._

_Haku looked at him, and sensed a demonic feeling around him._

* * *

><p>Haku finally decided to answer Naruto. "You see, when a person have someone or something they wanna protect, then they become genuinely strong."<p>

Naruto listened to this, wide eyed, and then he remembered what Kaiza had said to Inari, what Kakashi said during their fight with Zabuza, Iruka when he let himself get hit in the back, and himself when he stood up to protect Torabu. The fact that they were willing to put their lives on the line for something or someone made sense with the "woman´s" words.

"Yeah, I hear ya. I know exactly what you´re saying." Naruto replied with a smile.

Haku smiled and stood up with his basket. "You will get strong. Very strong." He said and walked off. "Goodbye, we will meet again sometime." He then stopped. "Oh, and by the way, I´m a boy."

Naruto was – mildly said – shocked. _WHAT? A boy can be prettier than Sakura?_

As Haku left, a little later he passed Sasuke. Sasuke looked back on him, and continued to find a still shocked Naruto.

"Whoa," the later began, "I´ve seen a lot of weird things in my life, but _that_ one takes the cake!"

He was then smacked on the head by his teammate. "Hey! What did you do that for?"

"You twerp," Sasuke insulted, "did you forget about breakfast? You´re such a loser."

Naruto then gave a big grin, annoying Sasuke.

* * *

><p>Later in the forest, Sakura and Kakashi were looking for the two missing boys.<p>

"Knowing Naruto, he could be anywhere," Sakura stated, "and Sasuke hasn´t come back either. I wonder where they are."

A kunai then landed between them. They looked up, and saw Naruto lying on a tree branch high up a tree. "Whoa! Naruto can get _that _high up with only his chakra? That´s great." Sakura marveled.

"What do you say, high enough for you guys?" Naruto asked. "There sure is a looong way down." He then stood up, and accidentally slipped, losing his footing…

…only to catch himself by hanging from the branch with his soles.

Sakura´s expression went from scared worry to annoyance. "We were worried about you, Naruto!" she shouted. Her inner self were more angrily agreeing. "I´m gonna strangle you! Cha, you dick!"

"Why do I think this is going to end badly?" wondered Kakashi aloud.

Naruto´s chakra then ran out, and he was falling…

…only to be caught by Sasuke, who was hanging upside down another branch. He was now holding Naruto by his ankle, while dangling.

"You really _are_ a total loser, Naruto." Sasuke stated.

While said loser was annoyed by his friend, Sakura squealed in admiration by the latter´s action. "Sasuke, you´re so COOL!"

Kakashi gave a smile that hided his thoughts. _If I´m still sane by the time they finish, it would be a miracle._

* * *

><p>Back in the house, Inari sat alone in his room, looking at the ocean with his father´s picture in his hands.<p>

He looked at the picture and mumbled. "Naruto… Naruto Uzumaki…"

* * *

><p>Back in Gato´s hideout, Zabuza had recovered significantly. He proved this by crushing an apple with one hand.<p>

"You´re recovering quickly…" Haku said, now in his usual clothes.

The assassin let go of the apple remains. "Yes, just a little longer, Haku." He said.

"Good," Takai intervened, "you were starting to look dead."

* * *

><p>It was now night in the forest, and both Naruto and Sasuke had mastered chakra control. They were both standing on top of their trees´ tops, panting, and with a kunai in the tops.<p>

"Let´s go back." Sasuke suggested.

"Alright!" Naruto agreed.

* * *

><p>In the house, they were all preparing for dinner.<p>

"Now they´re both late." Sakura stated. "I wouldn´t have expected that from Sasuke."

The door then opened, and in walked Sasuke carrying Naruto, the former having the latter´s arm around his shoulders.

"What have you been doing?" Tazuna asked. "You look like something the cat dragged in."

Naruto looked up with a smirk. "We both made it. We climbed all the way to the top."

"Good." Kakashi congratulated. "Now for the next part. Starting tomorrow, you´re both Tazuna´s bodyguards."

"Alright!" Naruto cheered, causing both of the boys to fall back on their backs.

"You are such a LOSER!" Sasuke scolded, resulting in laughter from the others.

After eating, they all relaxed. "In a few more days," Tazuna said, "the bridge would be finished, and I have you to thank for that."

"You´ve all done great, but you´re still got to be careful." Tsunami stated.

"I´ve been meaning to ask you this, but I haven´t had the chance until now." Tazuna began. "Why did you stay and protect me, even after knowing that I lied?"

"'Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive.'" Kakashi answered. The bridge builder and his daughter didn´t understand. "That was a quote from the First Hokage."

Inari looked at the exhausted Naruto, and remembered what his father had to go through to save the village. Then he remembered Kaiza´s execution. He then let a tear roll down from his eye and down on the table. He then stood up quickly. "All of this stupid training is just a waste of time!" he exclaimed. "Gato´s got a whole army; they´ll beat you down and destroy you! These cool things you all say, they don´t mean anything! No matter what you do, the strong always wins and the weak always lose!"

"That might be," Sairento stated, "but it won´t happen to us."

"Why don´t you be quiet? Just looking at you makes me sick! You don´t know anything about this country, you´re just butting in! Always laughing and playing around, you don´t know what it´s like to suffer and be treated like dirt!"

"Listen to your whining and complaining, like some sorry, little victim." Naruto said, surprising Inari. "You can whimper all day for all I care, you´re nothing but a coward!"

Inari was taken aback by that statement. Naruto then walked away, upset. Inari was then openly sobbing.

* * *

><p>Later outside, Inari was sitting and looking at the ocean. Kakashi then approached him from behind. "Can I talk to you?" he asked.<p>

Inari said nothing, as Kakashi sat down beside him. "Naruto can sometimes be a little… harsh," the latter started, "but he doesn´t hate you. Your grandfather told us what happened to your father. He probably don´t know this, but Naruto also grew up without a father. In fact, he never knew either of his parents, and he didn´t have a single friend in our village. The same can almost be said about Torabu, except he knew them for two years before they died." Inari looked at him. "Still, I´ve never seen them consciously cry, soak or give up. They are always eager to jump in. They want to be respected and acknowledged. It´s their dreams and they´re willing to put their lives on the line for that in a heartbeat. My guess is, they just got tired of crying, and decided to do something about it." Inari was surprised over those words. "Even though they´re young and still learning, they know what it means to be strong, like your father did. I think he knows better than us what you´re going through. What Naruto told you earlier, as cruel as it sounded; he´s probably told himself a thousand times." He finished that sentence with a smile.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Tazuna was about to leave for work, with Sasuke, Sakura, Sairento and Konran following him. "I leave Naruto and Torabu in your hands." Kakashi said to Tsunami. "Naruto´s pushed his body to the limit, overdoing it as usual, so he may not be able to move today at all."<p>

Upstairs in the house, Naruto was sleeping soundly in his pajamas.

"But what about you?" asked Tsunami, "You´re still recovering, yourself."

"Why, do I look wobbly? I´ll be fine." And then they were off.

* * *

><p>In Gato´s apartment, he was talking over the walkie-talkie with Zabuza. The corporate executive had his damaged arm in a sling. "Still treating your wounds? I hired you to do a job, you know. Are you listening, Zabuza? Hey!" he said. The line then went dead.<p>

* * *

><p>It went dead because Zabuza stamped his walkie-talkie. He had finally recovered, and was now along with Haku – with his mask on – and Takai on a boat under the bridge. "Are you ready?" he asked his fellow assassins.<p>

"Yes." Haku replied.

"Always." Takai smirked.

* * *

><p>Back home, Naruto awoke, and then saw what time it was. "WHY DIDN´T SOMEONE WAKE ME UP?" he yelled and ran downstairs.<p>

He saw Tsunami doing the dishes. "Where is everybody?" he asked.

She turned around and smiled. "Oh, Naruto. Your sensei wanted to let you rest. You got the day off." She explained.

Naruto, unsatisfied by his sensei´s decision, quickly got upstairs and dressed. "I can´t believe they ditched me!" he grumbled. He then ran out the door. "See ya!"

* * *

><p>Naruto was then jumping from tree branch, grumbling to himself. "At least they could have woken me up!"<p>

He then noticed something on the ground.

* * *

><p>Back at the bridge, construction was apparently not going underway.<p>

"What the hell is this?" Tazuna shouted in shock.

Before the six people, lay all of the construction workers, unconscious and wounded! "What happened? Someone was here! Someone got to them!" Tazuna exclaimed.

"Could it be…?" Kakashi wondered.

* * *

><p>Torabu laid silently on his futon, still unconscious. His eyes then began to twitch, and he slowly opened them. He then sat up and let out an audible yawn. "Boy, I´m tired of sleeping." The cat-boy groaned.<p>

Tsunami then entered the room. "You´re finally awake. How are you feeling?" she asked.

He looked at her and smiled. "Hey there, miss Tsunami! I´m great now! How have things been?"

She giggled at his cheerful attitude. "All of them are off protecting my father." She then looked a little worried. "Are you sure you´re fine? Maybe you need to rest some more."

"I´m fine! I feel great! I´ll go meet the others right away!" After his last statement, he stood up…

…only for the covers over him falling off, and showing his boxers. Tsunami blushed at seeing him half naked, but not as much as the cat-boy when he found out. He then lay down and pulled the covers over him. "…Once I get dressed. Once I get dressed." He said less enthusiastic.

Tsunami giggled and went over to a shelf. "I have been repairing your clothes while you were asleep." And true to word, she pulled out his clothes – all restored to normal – and gave it to him. "While you get dressed, I´ll go back to the dishes."

She then went over to the staircase. "Inari! Do you mind helping me with the dishes?"

"I´ll be right there!" the boy replied.

Right outside of the house, Gato´s two sword wielding bodyguards approached the door, with murder in their eyes.

* * *

><p>A thick mist set in at the bridge. "Guys, get ready!" Kakashi alarmed his students, as they gathered around their client in a protective circle. "I knew he was still alive, he just couldn´t wait for round two."<p>

"Sensei, it´s Zabuza, isn´t it?" asked Sakura. "This is his Hidden Mist Jutsu."

Everyone tensed up, and waited for any sign of trouble.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Kakashi." Zabuza´s voice sounded. "I see you still got these brats with you." He then regarded Sasuke, whose hand was shaking. "That one is still trembling."

Suddenly, seven Zabuzas shoved up out of nowhere and surrounded them! One of them noticed that Sasuke was smirking. "I´m trembling with exitement." Sasuke said cockily.

Sasuke then used his speed – enhanced by the training – to cut through all of the Zabuzas in a matter of seconds! All of them then turned into water! "Ooh, so you could see they were Water Clones, huh?" the real Zabuza asked. "You brats are improving."

Zabuza, Haku and Takai then appeared. "Looks like you got a rival, Haku." The latter stated.

"So it seems." Haku responded.

Round two was going to commence.

* * *

><p>Naruto was running back to the house as fast as he could. "I really hope I´m not too late!"<p>

* * *

><p>"Well, well, so I had it right." Kakashi stated. "It was all an act with a cute little mask."<p>

The genin looked at Haku, either shocked or angry.

"So, all that about being a tracker ninja protecting his village was just a bunch of bull." Tazuna realized.

"They look pretty chummy to me." Konran stated. "I would say they have been doing that act for a long time."

"He´s got some nerve facing us again after pulling such a trick!" Sakura fumed.

"And hiding behind a mask, who does he think he´s fooling?" Kakashi asked.

"Ahem, speak for yourself, Sensei." Sairento reminded him.

"That´s it, I´m taking him out!" Sasuke stated. "Who does he think he´s fooling? Hiding behind that mask, like some sort of clown."

"Sasuke, you´re so cool!" Sakura squealed.

While the members of Team 6 sighed in annoyance, their sensei thought: _Wait a second, didn´t I say the same thing a little while ago? She´ll never change._

"Impressive," Haku said, "even though they were only just one tenth the strength of the original Water Clone Jutsu, he DID destroy them all."

"That move still gave us the first advantage, now use it." Zabuza smirked under the bandage mask.

Haku then moved like a ghost towards Sasuke, whirling like a tornado all the while.

* * *

><p>The bodyguards slashed the door to pieces upon entry. Tsunami looked at them in shock, as they closed in on her.<p>

"So you´re Tazuna´s daughter, huh? Too bad. You´ll have to come with us, now!" The one in the jacket said.

Inari was in the bathroom, washing his hands, when he heard something crash and his mother screaming.

Tsunami was cowering in fear, as the goons looked at her.

Inari ran down the stairs and saw what happened. "Mother!" he screamed.

"NO! Don´t come out here!" Tsunami warned. "Run away! Hurry!"

The goons looked at the young boy. "Don't move!" one of them warned.

The one with the eye patch looked at his partner. "Should I take the brat, too?"

"No, Gato only wanted one hostage."

_Hostage? _Inari thought in fear.

The goon with the eye patch prepared to pull out his sword. "Alright… THEN LET´S WASTE HIM!" He then chuckled as he pulled out his sword.

"Wait!" Tsunami yelled. "Please don´t hurt my son! I´m begging you, he´s just a small boy! If you hurt him, I´ll bite off my own tongue and drown in my blood!"

The goon sheathed his sword, unwillingly.

"Looks like your mom came through for you, kid." The goon with the jacket said.

Inari then broke down crying.

"What a waste," the eye patch-wearing goon complained, "I was in the mood to cut something."

"Stop whining," his friend retorted, "you already drew blood today." Then he walked over to Tsunami. "Let´s go, then."

He reached down to grab her arm…

…when someone poked him in the shoulder from the front. He looked up, and saw Torabu standing on the wall. "Hi, let me introduce you to my right hand." And then he punched the goon square in the face, sending him back a little.

The cat-boy jumped down to the ground, and smirked nonchalantly. "Sorry for taking so long, had to get dressed."

The goons looked at him. "Who the hell are you?"

Torabu shrugged. "Just a boy that don´t like seeing idiots like yourself try to kidnap young women like Miss Tsunami." He then looked more serious. "If you wanna get her, you´ll have to go through me first."

Inari looked up at him in hope.

"You little brat!" the goons drew their swords. "We´ll cut you to shreds!"

"Let´s go outside, then. I´ll hate to ruin this pretty house." He then ran towards the goons, grabbed them by the collars, and hauled them outside of the house. He let go of them and walked a little bit, making distance.

The one with the eye patch looked at him. "Finally, I´d love to cut you up!" He then ran full speed towards the genin.

He swung his sword, but Torabu caught the blade between his index finger and middle finger. The cat-boy smirked and kicked him in the stomach, pushing him back without his sword. He then took the sword into two hands, he bended it and threw it out in the ocean. He then moved his fingers, goading the goons to attack him again.

"STOP!" someone yelled. Everyone saw that Inari was the one that yelled.

"Stand back, Inari! I´ll take care of them!" Torabu yelled.

"I´ll take him down." The goon in the jacket said. He then ran forward and swung his sword…

* * *

><p>Sasuke and Haku had engaged in a kunai fight.<p>

"While Haku can have his fun with 'Pretty Boy', I´ll have some entertainment on my own." Takai said and prepared to attack.

"Sakura, guard Tazuna!" Konran ordered. "Sairento, you and I will take care of the woman!"

The mute girl nodded at his idea, and both dashed over to face her.

Haku and Sasuke continued to clash kunai, and then they tried to push their kunai through their opponent's defenses. "We want the bridge builder, not you." Haku said calmly. "If you back down, I won't have to kill you."

"Save it." Sasuke retorted.

"You´re making a mistake, you won´t be able to keep up with my speed. I´ve gained two key advantages."

"Yeah, what are they?"

"First: We´re surrounded by water. Second: I´ve blocked one of your hands; therefore you only have one hand to defend yourself." Haku then moved his free hand in front of his face, preparing to do a hand-seal.

_What? _Sasuke thought. _Using hand-seals with just ONE hand?_

Even Kakashi was impressed.

Haku made the hand-seals. "Secret Technique: A Thousand Needles of Death!" he then stamped the ground.

Suddenly, from the water emerged 1000 ice needles, all pointing at Sasuke! They were then fired towards him…

* * *

><p>Inari was cut down by the goon…<p>

…only for a log to take his place and take the cut.

"A replacement Jutsu?" the goon exclaimed surprised.

"Sorry I´m a little late."

The voice belonged to Naruto, who stood between the other goon and Torabu, holding Inari. "Well, you know, heroes always show up at the last minute." He said.

"Naruto…" Inari said.

"While your attempt at helping was brave, Inari," Torabu praised, "you could just leave it up to us, we can handle it." He then looked at Naruto. "Nice to see you again, Naruto."

"Likewise!" Naruto then put down Inari. "In the forest, I found a boar that´s been killed, and the trees around it were all cut up, like someone was practicing with a sword. I saw the tracks lead towards the house, so I followed them here."

"It´s one of those puny ninja brats Tazuna hired!" the one-eyed goon affirmed.

"If we´re only 'puny brats', then how come we can do THIS?"

Torabu dashed towards the goon, and landed a strong maverick on him. He then followed up with a kick to his face, and then threw him towards his friend.

In the meanwhile, Naruto threw a shuriken at the other goon. He deflected it with his sword. "Try something else!" he shouted.

Naruto chuckled. "I did."

A Shadow Clone then appeared behind the goon. It attacked him and threw him at his friend, both of the goons colliding in midair, and getting knocked out.

The clone disappeared, and Inari stared at the genin in amazement. "That was awesome!"

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, believe it!" and he thrust his arm forward for effect.

Inari looked at him in confusion at first, but then he made a wide smile and laughed. "That was so excellent, like a real ninja!"

"You twerp, I AM a real ninja! That´s what I´ve been telling you!"

The boys then laughed louder and louder. Torabu saw this and laughed with them.

* * *

><p>The needles sped through the air, intended to hit their target.<p>

An explosion then appeared under Sasuke´s feet, and Haku jumped away from it. When the smoke cleared, Sasuke was gone. He was up in the air! He got up there by sending too much chakra to his feet, and like the tree, he pushed himself off the surface.

He then threw shuriken after shuriken at Haku, who dodged every one of them.

When Haku stood still, Sasuke appeared behind him. "You´re not as fast as you think you are." The latter taunted. "From this point on, YOU´LL be dodging MY attacks!"

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Sairento and Konran had a hard time dodging Takai´s fireballs. The shadowy ally ran in a circle to get behind her, but she jumped up when he was close enough, and delivered a crescent kick to his cranium, sending his face into the bridge. The mute girl then threw shuriken at her, but she dodged them all.

"Give it up," she said, "you can´t beat me."

"Says you!" Konran yelled. But it wasn´t the downed Konran that talked, it was another one, who dashed toward Takai from behind.

She jumped away from the attacker. "You attacked me with a clone, so you could deliver a surprise attack. Clever."

The Konran on the ground rose up. "Actually, you missed two things. One." The Konran that was attacking then vanished. "The roles of me and my clone were reversed."

"And the other thing?"

Sairento then appeared behind Takai, holding a kunai to her throat. "All of that was a distraction from me." She said.

The fiery female then smirked, and blew up into flames, burning Sairento! The girl screamed in pain as she tried to put out the flames.

"What was that?" yelled Konran surprised.

Two more of Takai then appeared behind him. "My Exploding Fire Clone Jutsu." They both said. "See for yourself." Both then exploded, burning him as well!

Sasuke and Haku kept struggling, but then the former kicked the latter´s head, sending him flying.

"Thought you were quicker, huh?" mocked Sasuke. "Now, what else are you wrong about?"

"You made a big mistake by insulting these ninjas and calling them brats," Kakashi stated, "that´s just guaranteeing to bring out Sasuke´s attitude. He´s the best young fighter of Konoha, Sakura here is our strongest mind, and Sairento and Konran are the most coolheaded of them."

Sakura giggled, while her inner self were gloating.

"And last but not least." Kakashi continued. "Our number one, knuckleheaded, hyperactive ninja and our king of troublemakers: Naruto Uzumaki and Torabu Maka, respectively."

* * *

><p>Naruto sneezed.<p>

"They says when you sneeze, someone´s talking about you." Inari said.

"You don´t believe that, do you?" Torabu asked.

By now, they had tied up the two goons.

"Hey, by the way," Naruto started, "sorry about yesterday. Calling you a coward was pretty mean, I guess. Anyway, it´s not true, you know." He placed a hand on the younger boy´s head and ruffled it. "You are really brave."

Inari seemed to be happy about the gesture, and started crying. "Damn it, I swore I won´t cry anymore! You´re gonna make fun of me, and call me a baby, but I can´t stop!"

"What´re you talking about?" Naruto looked at the ocean. "You´re happy, what´s wrong with that?" he then gave a big grin. "When you´re happy, it´s okay to cry. Really, it is."

Inari cried more in happiness.

"We´re leaving you in charge of things here," Torabu said, "we´re going to go help our teammates."

"Sure!" the boy replied smiling widely.

The two genin then dashed off. "It´s not easy being a hero," Naruto started, "it´s tough, believe it!"

Inari thrust his own fist into the air. "Believe it!"

* * *

><p>"Haku, if we keep going like this, we´ll be the victims instead. Get on with it!" Zabuza said.<p>

Haku stood up. "Right!" he replied. Then an aura of chakra surrounded him.

"What´s that?" wondered Sasuke.

"I´m sorry it has come to this." Haku apologized.

Everyone then felt the air getting colder, as Haku made hand-seals. Then ice began to rise from the puddles of water, and create big square forms, surrounding Sasuke! "Secret Technique: Crystal ice mirrors!" Haku yelled.

_What is that? How does it work? _Wondered Kakashi.

Haku lowered his arms, and walked towards one of the mirrors, going _into _it! His image then appeared on all of the mirrors, stunning Sasuke even further.

Kakashi tried to interfere, but Zabuza stepped in front of him. "If you enter this fight, you´ll fight me!" the latter stated. "Your boy has no chance against that Jutsu. He´s finished."

"Now… we´ll begin," the images of Haku said, "and now I´ll show you true speed."

All of the images then tossed senbon at him, wounding him when they hit! Sasuke grunted in pain for each hit.

The two members of Team 6 were looking at Takai with narrowed eyes, the latter not hurt at all. "You´re starting to annoy me," Takai started and made hand-seals, "I´ll finish you off now!" Then two more of her appeared.

Both of the clones then attacked each of the genin.

Konran dodged the punches and kicks as best as he could. "She keeps sending those exploding clones at us, while standing on the sidelines!" he grunted.

Sairento tried to dodge, as well. "Then let´s go for the real one!"

"Good idea!" Konran then jumped over the clone he was fighting, prepared a kunai, ran forward, and stabbed Takai in the stomach!

She gave him an annoying grin, before exploding! "She was a clone, too?" exclaimed Sairento.

The clone she was fighting then grabbed her and exploded herself!

The clone Konran fought against then laughed. "I am the real one! I tricked you into thinking otherwise!" Her expression then turned malevolent. "Now, I´m gonna kill you!"

Zabuza smirked at Kakashi. "Go ahead, try and help them, then I´ll kill the old man."

Sakura couldn´t stand watching Sasuke get hurt. "I´m sorry," she said to Tazuna, "but I can´t just stand here and do nothing."

"I understand." The old man replied.

Sakura took a kunai and charged into battle. "Take this!" She jumped up and threw the kunai into the middle of the assembly of mirrors.

Haku saw it, got out of the nearest mirror, and grabbed it.

Sasuke lay down on the ground, tired from all of the wounds.

Haku then saw something move in the air, and while busy looking at it, fell out of the mirror.

Then a big puff of smoke appeared outside of the prison of mirrors. Haku got up and looked at it. "The number one, knuckleheaded, hyperactive ninja." He said.

And, true to his words, when the smoke cleared, there stood Naruto. "Naruto Uzumaki… is here! Believe it!" he said.

Takai slowly approached the two burned genin. "I´ll do to you what I did to your kitty friend." She said.

"For the record, Torabu´s not dead," Sairento said. "I healed him, and he might have woken up!"

"Ha! Even if he stood right here, I´d still defeat him on the spot, but there´s good reasons as to why he don´t."

"No," Takai looked to her right, to see Torabu dashing towards her, "cause´ I´m standing right HERE!" he then punched her jaw, sending her flying away from him.

"TORABU!" both of his teammates exclaimed.

He turned to them and smiled. "Hey, guys! You look beat up! I´d at least expect you to be better while I slept!"

"You ass," Konran cursed.

Takai stood up and rubbed her chin. "So, you´re still alive, huh, boy?" she said.

The cat-boy looked at her. "Yeah, you gave me a rough time, but now I´m back to turn the tables!" He got into a fighting stance. "Time for round 2!"

She got into a stance of her own. "Bring it, Kitty!"

* * *

><p>dopliss: The fight continues next chapter, but expect the next chapter of O. C. Chronicles 2 to come first.<p>

Mizuki: I can´t wait for the next chapter!

dopliss: For which story?

Mizuki: BOTH!


	10. Chapter 10 The fight intensified

**dopliss: Here it is… the final of the 'Land of Waves' arc.**

**Mizuki: You´re gonna fit six episodes into one chapter?**

**dopliss: I said I´d finish it this chapter, and I´m gonna do it.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me.**

**A/n: Paenitet me (Latin for 'I´m sorry) Naruto fans if you´ll get disappointed.**

* * *

><p>"Now that we´re here, everything should be alright," Naruto proclaimed. "You know how in stories the hero usually shows up at the last minute and kicks butt? Well, that´s what I´m gonna do, right here and now, believe it!"<p>

Zabuza groaned in annoyance. "Ugh, this brat again?" he said.

Sasuke was also displeased. _Shut up, Naruto,_ he thought.

Kakashi was more disappointed than displeased. _What an idiot, _he thought. _If he had stayed hidden, he could have been so much more effective._

Haku looked at the noisy genin. _That boy…_ he thought, and remembered his conversation with him yesterday.

Naruto then prepared for combat. "Alright, here´s my Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

But before he could make the Jutsu, Zabuza threw shuriken at him. "Naruto, MOVE!" Kakashi yelled.

The shuriken were then stopped midair by Haku´s senbon needles. Everyone seeing this was stunned by the fact that NEEDLES could stop SHURIKEN.

"It didn´t get him," Sakura said stunned.

"Those weapons cancel each other out, amazing!" Tazuna marveled. "Now, that´s what I call lucky, I think."

Sakura´s expression then turned from stunned at the sight, to angry at Naruto. "What´re you doing, Naruto?" she screamed. "Are you crazy?"

"This is a battle, not a talent show," Kakashi scolded. "Don´t show your opponent your Jutsu! A ninja´s art is _deception_: always keep the enemy guessing. Even when executing a single Jutsu, one must distract their opponent´s attention to catch them off balance, and outmaneuver them. You just turned yourself into a human target, when you enter a battle like that!"

Naruto freaked out when he heard that. "I´M SORRY!" he screamed. "I JUST TRIED TO RESCUE EVERYBODY!"

"But," Kakashi changed the subject. "There´s another mystery here." He indicated the question of why Haku saved Naruto.

"Haku, what´re you doing?" Zabuza asked.

Haku stood up, and looked at his partner. "Zabuza," he started. "This boy… let me fight him my own way. Please."

"Bring it on!" Naruto goaded, and got in a fighting stance.

Takai and Torabu stared each other down. "You think you´ll win this time?" she asked. "You´ve only managed to hit me twice _at all_: once in our first battle, and once just now. And I don´t think I need to remind you of the result of our first tussle."

The cat-boy stretched his arms, legs and tail. "I don´t need to be reminded, I don´t _want _you to remind me," he said. "What I _do _need, is to kick your ass all the way across the world!" He then made his Chakra Claws appear.

She sneered at that statement. "When I´m done with you, you´ll wish you ended up like last time." She then made hand-seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Zabuza sneered. "So you want me to leave this to you?" he asked. "Is that it, Haku?"

Haku didn´t answer. "As usual, you´re too soft," Zabuza went on.

"Forgive me," Haku stated simply.

_Soft…?_ Sasuke thought in wonder. He then noticed his wounds. _He´s right. Look at these wounds. He cut me up with his needles, yet he didn´t hit a vital spot. Why? _He then narrowed his eyes at Haku. _Is he just trying to humiliate me?_

"I´m warning you," Naruto told Haku, and pointed a finger at him. "One way or another, I´m gonna rip off that mask, and tear you apart!"

_It´s impossible, _Kakashi thought. _Naruto can´t match this kid._ He tensed up. _I´ve got to…_

"Don´t even think about it," Zabuza warned. "You know the score, Kakashi. If you go after Haku or Takai, I go after the bridge builder."

Kakashi knew he was in a tight spot. _He got me, _he thought. _I can´t protect Tazuna AND help the others at the same time. Sakura´s feisty, but she can´t take on Zabuza alone._

"Relax, Kakashi," Zabuza mocked. "Sit back and enjoy the show. Let´s see how they do, one on one."

"Shouldn´t we help them, Konran?" Sairento asked.

"I do not think we can do much, Sairento," Konran answered. "We are both heavily wounded, Sensei cannot help us, Sasuke is trapped in the mirrors, and neither Naruto nor Torabu looks like they want us to interfere."

"But then what _can _we do?"

He was silent for a few seconds. "Nothing… For now, at least," he said.

"That mask, and your bogus story, you worked with Zabuza all along!" Naruto realized. "You think you can get away with stuff like that?"

Haku looked downwards. "I´m sorry," he said. "But as your sensei said: 'Deceiving your opponent', 'Catching them off guard'… that´s the art of the ninja. Please don't take this personally."

Sasuke took the moment, grabbed a kunai, and aimed at Haku between two mirrors. _But while you´re jabbering, I´ll catch YOU off guard! _He then threw the kunai at him.

Haku saw it coming, and moved his head a little to dodge it. Naruto then noticed Sasuke inside the gathered mass of ice mirrors.

"I haven´t forgotten about you," Haku said to Sasuke. "Not for an instant."

_So THAT´S where Sasuke is, _Naruto thought. _He´s pinned down._

Haku turned to face Sasuke. "Some warriors accept defeat gracefully," he said. "They know when they´re beaten, others do not. So be it. Let us finish our battle, then. To the death!" He then walked back to the nearest ice mirror.

"Hey, where´re you going?" asked Naruto.

Haku stopped in front of the mirror. "It´s alright, Naruto," he said. "We´ll have our fight next." He then walked into the mirror, stunning Naruto.

Torabu kept jumping away from the incoming fireballs. He then decided to counterattack, by creating four Shadow Clones and using them as shields for the fireballs, so he could get closer. He then took a kunai, stabbed Takai in the stomach, and jumped away before she exploded.

"Nice try, but I´m not falling for that trick again!" he declared.

He was then surrounded by twenty of her, and all of them used their Fireball Jutsu at once, catching the cat-boy in the fire! When the smoke cleared, ashes and burned wood remained.

"The Replacement Jutsu again?" one of them asked.

The cat-boy then appeared on top of the highest mirror, and threw kunai and shuriken at the Fire Clones, making those he hit explode. The remaining clones spotted him, and jumped up to him. He then smirked, and disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing himself as a clone.

"Over here!"

The Takais looked towards the sound, and saw Torabu making hand-seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he yelled, and fired his own fireball at the clones, incinerating them all.

"Since when did Torabu become so cool?" asked Sairento.

_Here he comes! _Sasuke thought, as Haku´s image returned to the mirror he went into. He looked around at the other mirrors. None of them had Haku´s image. _The real one is over there!_ Sasuke thought. But as he reached for his kunai…

"I´m right behind you." …Haku´s voice sounded from behind him. Haku´s image was now gone from the first mirror, and present in the other one.

_He transported there in an instant! How? _Sasuke thought wide-eyed.

Haku´s image then appeared on all of the mirrors, all holding needles at a throwing position, and they threw them at Sasuke, cutting him further.

_What is that?_ Naruto thought in worry. _Sasuke´s getting all ripped up, and I can´t even tell where the attacks are coming from! How is he doing that?_

Sasuke was thinking as quickly as he could. _What kind of Jutsu is this? Could it be that he has clones hiding in the mirrors, all of them throwing needles at the same time? No, They´re too fast for that. I can´t even see where they´re coming from! But if it was just a cloning technique, he wouldn´t need the ice mirrors. Those mirrors are definitely the key to his attacks. But what´s my next move?_

"Sasuke, Naruto, THINK!" Kakashi shouted. "You need to attack from the outside AND from the inside at the same time!"

Naruto then had an idea.

_Yes, _Sasuke thought. _It´s all about position, and Naruto and I are in the perfect position. If I attack him from here, and Naruto hits him from the outside, we can do it!_

"HEY!" Naruto shouted. "I snuck in here to save you!"

True to word, he sat in front of Sasuke, startling the latter with his idiocy. "Naruto," Kakashi started in dumbstruck annoyance. "You sneak up on your ENEMY, not your ALLY."

Torabu twisted his ears, trying to locate the real Takai by sound. He then felt someone touch his tail, and he turned around to see Takai holding it tightly. She then pulled and slammed him into the bridge. She quickly let go, and used her Fireball Jutsu up close on him! When she stopped, he was badly burned.

"Your little number with using my technique was impressive," she said. "But you can´t hold a candle to me, Kitty."

He jumped up onto his feet, and rubbed the sore spots. "Thought I´d show ya I learned something from our last encounter," he said. "Now, it´s time to fight fire with fire!"

He jumped away from her. Both made hand-seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" both yelled, and fired fireballs at each other at the same time.

"YOU´RE A COMPLETE LOSER!" Sasuke yelled angrily (and with good reason). "YOU´RE A NINJA, THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU MOVE!"

"WHAT´S YOUR PROBLEM?" Naruto yelled back. "YOU SHOULD THANK ME FOR COMING IN HERE TO HELP YOU!"

"Naruto, if we´re both inside here…! Forget it! I´ve had it with your mistakes!"

"And I´ve had it with your attitude, believe it!"

_Naruto´s building a solid reputation as the most clueless ninja in history, _Kakashi thought. _The more he helps, the worse things gets._

Sasuke finally had enough. "That´s it, I´m gonna destroy those mirrors, right now!" He then made hand-seals.

"Hey, what attack are you using?" asked Naruto.

"These mirrors are made of ice, so how do you destroy ice? Figure it out." He then blew a fireball at the mirrors in front of him.

But the mirrors neither melted nor even dripped!

"That didn´t do anything at all!" Naruto fumed.

"You need much more heat than that to melt this ice," Haku stated. The images then attacked the two boys, cutting them both.

"Where is he?" Naruto grunted. "Where´s the needles coming from? Are they clones?" He then looked at Sasuke. "We gotta get the real one! Which one is it?"

"Look into every mirror as hard as you can," Haku taunted. "You´ll never learn my secret."

"Oh yeah?" Naruto said and made hand-seals. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The clones appeared and jumped towards each mirror. They figured that since there were many mirrors, just as many clones could break them. But Haku jumped from each mirror across to the next, whilst cutting the clones. The clones disappeared, and the real Naruto was badly damaged.

"These mirrors only reflect my image, allowing me to transport myself at the speed of light." Haku explained. "Through my eyes, you appear to be moving in slow-motion."

Kakashi´s eyes then widened in realization. "I knew it!" he said. "It´s a bloodline trait: a Kekkei Genkai!"

"Kekkei Genkai? What is it?" asked Sakura.

"It´s like my Sharingan: you can´t learn it, it has to be in your blood, in your genetic code, passed down from generation to generation within a single clan."

"But that means…"

"Right, even I can´t copy that technique. There´s no way to destroy it, and no way to stop him."

Naruto was still determined. "I couldn´t break through," he said. "So, what? He´s not gonna stop me! I´m not giving up, and I´m not gonna lose! ´Cause I have a dream, and no one´s gonna take it away from me! Someday I´ll be respected in my village, that´s my dream! To be the greatest Hokage!"

Haku looked at Naruto. _Dreams…? _he thought and remembered his past.

* * *

><p><em>It snowed in Haku´s old village. He sat on a bridge, hungry, cold and alone.<em>

_Then someone approached him. It was a younger Zabuza._

_The assassin laughed in an evil fashion. "Pathetic little boy," he said, walked over to him, and kneeled down. "No one wants you, huh? Before winter ends, you´ll die with nothing, not even a dream."_

_Haku smiled at him, surprising the rouge ninja. "Your eyes are just like mine, Mister," he said. "We´re both the same."_

* * *

><p>"It was not my desire to be a ninja," Haku said. "It´s painful. I don´t want to kill you, but if you advance, I will have no choice. Then I will kill the kindness in my heart, and fully embrace the way of a ninja. And there would be no mercy, no turning back. This bridge will be the battlefield where our dreams collide. Now I must fight for my dream, just as you fight for yours. Please, do not blame me. I fight for someone who is precious to me. I live for him, and I´ll face death for him, so that his dream may become reality. That is my dream. And for the sake for that dream, if I must, I will act like a ninja and take your lives!"<p>

The three boys then prepared to attack again.

The troublemaking ninja and the fiery female kept blowing fireballs at each other. The good news for Torabu was that he could hold her off, the bad news were that he was running low on chakra, while she seemed a lot less tired than him.

They both stopped, and the cat-boy panted heavily. "Already tired, Kitty?" asked Takai mockingly.

"Just gathering more breath for my fireballs, Lady," he replied.

"Hmph. Why don´t we get a little closer instead?" She then ran towards him, and they engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

"Even if they somehow manage to destroy the ice mirrors," Kakashi stated. "They still couldn´t defeat this ninja."

"How can you be so sure?" asked Sakura.

"They have the desire to win, but they don´t have the instinct to kill. That boy is a whole other breed. He lives for pain, he thrives on it."

"Exactly," Zabuza agreed. "Your village has become complacent. Your trainees never learned the most important lesson of all: to kill the feelings in their own hearts, to crush an opponent mercilessly, to destroy with no emotion or regret."

"Sensei, what´re we gonna do? Please tell us!" Sakura pleaded.

Kakashi thought about possibilities to help in fighting. If he ran, Zabuza would kill Tazuna. If he made Shadow Clones, they would be countered by Water Clones. He placed his hand at his left eye. _So be it, _he thought. _It´s me or Zabuza, here and now. I´ll have to do this the hard way._

Both Zabuza and Sakura knew what he tried to do: use his Sharingan. "The Sharingan?" the assassin asked, before mocking the jonin. "You´re no fun, Kakashi, using the same old trick." He then dashed off at Kakashi, kunai at the ready, and stabbed his defending right hand.

"If it´s just an 'old trick', why did you just stop me?" Kakashi asked.

Zabuza laughed. "Use your Jutsus too many times, and your opponent learns to use it against you."

"Then count yourself lucky, you´re the only man alive who´ve seen my Sharingan twice. Show´s over, there won´t be a third time."

Zabuza laughed more. "Even if you did defeat me, you´d have no chance against Haku."

Sakura looked at the prison of mirrors. _Is that possible?_ she thought. _Is that kid stronger than Kakashi-sensei?_

"When I found him, he was just a street kid," Zabuza told. "But I trained him in the most advanced ninja techniques. I taught him everything I know, plus he had special abilities that he refined on his own. The boy developed quickly; soon he could face the most powerful enemies. Outnumbered. In total darkness. It didn´t matter, he could strike with perfect accuracy. He cared nothing for his own life, or the lives of others. He´d become a unique fighting machine: a ninja. In the end, his powers surpass even mine. His bloodline trait, the Kekkei Genkai, cannot be defeated by anyone. I´ve created a tool that destroys anything that stands in my way, unlike the useless punks that follow you around!"

Naruto tried his Shadow Clone Jutsu again, and the same result happened again, but Haku also threw some needles at Sasuke. "How is he doing that?" asked Naruto.

_It was barely there, but I saw it,_ Sasuke thought. He saw some water in the air getting repelled a few times by Haku´s movements. _I can see his trails and follow his moves._

Naruto tried again, but before Haku could attack, Sasuke kicked some water up in the air. Haku again moved quickly, and cut the two boys and the many clones, repelling the water in the process. Both boys were sent to the ground on their backs. Sasuke stood up. _I can see his feet, but that doesn´t mean I can match it, _he thought. He then came up with an idea. _What if I don´t use water, but instead… Yes. It might work._

Zabuza laughed more. "You think those genin punks can beat Haku?" he asked. "He´s the ultimate, a battle tool of destruction."

"Are you finished bragging? You´re starting to put me to sleep," Kakashi complained. "Let´s finish this. NOW!" He then uncovered his Sharingan Eye.

"Fine, but there´s one more thing you should know – a little more 'bragging' as you call it." Zabuza withdrew his kunai, and put it in his pocket. "Did you really think our last battle was only 'win or lose'? That I took your attacks like some genin? Haku was there, hiding, watching every move you made, studying your Sharingan. Haku can see a Jutsu once, and immediately device a lethal counterattack, it´s one of his gifts. I´ve been waiting to see the look on your face when you realize your Sharingan have become worthless. You once said 'the same Jutsu won't work on me twice', well, now I´m telling _you _that." He then made a hand-seal. "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

The fog around them became even thicker. Zabuza disappeared, along with all visibility. "Sakura, stay with Tazuna!" Kakashi ordered.

Sakura moved closer to the old bridge builder, holding a kunai in case of trouble. "Follow my lead, Mr. Tazuna, and no matter what, stay close!" she ordered.

"Alright, I´ll stay right behind you," Tazuna agreed.

_I know you need me, Zabuza, _Haku thought. _I´ll finish them off quickly._

Naruto tried again with the clones. But this time, as Haku jumped out of the mirror, Sasuke fired a fireball at him. It barely hit, and Haku continued getting rid of the clones. _It shouldn´t take this long to defeat them, _he thought.

Sasuke then aimed another fireball, as Haku went for the last clone. It singed his leg, but nothing more, and he finished off the last clone. Sasuke smirked at the minimal damage he did. _This time I got him, _he thought.

Kakashi was worried. The Hidden Mist Jutsu was thicker than last time they fought. He heard something fly towards him, and took out a kunai to deflect the shuriken thrown at him.

"You´re very skillful," Zabuza complimented from somewhere in the mist. "But I expected that from Kakashi the Sharingan Warrior." The assassin appeared behind the jonin, his eyes closed. "Next time you see me, it will be the last thing you´ll ever see again. Without your Sharingan, you´re nothing." He then disappeared in the mist again. "You wanted me to believe you could see through anything, even through time. But your predictions were wrong: I´m still alive." He referred to Kakashi´s statement about their last battle being Zabuza´s last. "So, you´re a fraud, Kakashi, you can´t read the future, and you can´t read me. The Sharingan is just a cheap trick that makes you seem more powerful than you are. I know now, your Sharingan has two separate elements: the 'piercing' eye, which sees every detail, and the 'hypnotic' eye, which mesmerizes your opponent. Employing these abilities, you can execute multiple Jutsus in quick succession to make it seem like you can see the future." He then talked about the end of their first fight. "First, with the 'piercing' eye, you copied my movements instantly. This replication of movements made me doubt my own thoughts. Once I was shaken, you infiltrated my mind, waiting for the slightest flutter to anticipate my actions, seeking out any hints to my next move. You timed it precisely, waiting for the right moment. The instant my mind became unfocused, you created a new illusion. With your 'hypnotic' eye, you induced me to make hand-seals, but you were making the same seals, so you seemed to be copying me, but actually, you controlled my movements."

"Now that I know this, a simple plan can defeat you. First I neutralized your 'piercing' eye with the Zero Visibility Mist." Kakashi was then punched a little distance away. He couldn´t react because the mist was slowing his reaction time. "Hmhmhm, next I neutralized your 'hypnotic' eye by keeping my own eyes closed. You can´t bore into my mind if you can´t look into my eyes."

Kakashi stood up from the hit. "Brilliant," he complimented. "Except, with your eyes closed, you can´t see me either."

"Have you forgotten who I am, Kakashi? I´m the demon of the hidden mist, the master of the Silent Kill, I can take you out by sound alone!"

Haku was impressed that Sasuke could read his movements. "Naruto," Sasuke said. "Can you do that again?"

"Of course! Nothing can stop me, believe it!" Naruto replied.

_He doesn´t wanna show it, but he´s exhausted, _Sasuke thought. _The Shadow Clone Jutsu uses a lot of chakra. But thanks to him, I figured it out. I know how to break through!_

_The human eye cannot track my movements, _Haku thought. _It must have been a coincidence. _Haku then prepared to attack again.

"Naruto, go for it!" Sasuke yelled. "Get out of here and attack from the outside, HURRY!" He then made hand-seals.

"Alright, you got it." And Naruto ran for one of the gaps between the mirrors.

"You cannot escape!" Haku stated. Naruto was then pushed back into the middle of the prison. He got back up and tried again. Haku then jumped out of the mirror he was in, heading towards Naruto, and it was that moment that Sasuke fired another fireball at Haku.

Haku saw the fireball, dodged it midair, threw a needle at Sasuke, landed in front of Naruto, and kicked him back again, while Sasuke got hit in the shoulder. Haku then returned to the mirrors.

"I couldn´t get past him!" Naruto panted. The two genin were very tired.

"That was good, Naruto," Sasuke praised, as he pulled out the needle. "One more time."

"Yeah, let´s do it!"

Sasuke knew that Haku´s chakra was running low, as well. The masked assassin was moving slower than before.

They then ran in different directions, but Haku had enough of them. "No more games, I need to stop this now!" he said, and aimed a needle at Sasuke. "This time you´ll stay down!" He threw the needle, and hit Sasuke in the knee! He was then hit with more needles, this time directly into his limbs!

"SASUKE!" Naruto yelled out to his friend, but he was hit with needles, as well!

_I´m fighting an enemy I can´t see or hear, _Kakashi thought. _It´s been a long time since I´ve thought someone this tough. And Sasuke and Naruto… I don´t think they can hold out. Stay calm… Think… Where will he strike?_ It then dawned on him. "The bridge builder!"

Sakura and Tazuna were both tensed up. Then Zabuza appeared from behind the old bridge builder, and dashed towards them to strike. Kakashi appeared in the assassin´s path, his arms spread out to protect Tazuna. "Too late!" Zabuza yelled, and swung his sword.

Sakura´s scream was then heard…

* * *

><p>dopliss: (scratching the back of his head) I think I bit off more than I could chew.<p>

Mizuki: No kidding. The chapter´s long enough at it is.

dopliss: I´ll try to finish the arc next chapter. So, you´ll be left with a cliffhanger for now.


	11. Chapter 11 Released inner beasts

**dopliss: Let´s see if I can get near the arc´s end this time.**

**Mizuki: I think it´s fine if you end up finishing the arc next chapter. **

**dopliss: Yeah, at least it´s not the same length as the episodes in it.**

**Disclaimer: What do I own when Naruto is concerned? This story!**

**A/n: To Naruto fans I might disappoint: ****undskyld**** (Danish for 'sorry').**

* * *

><p>Konran stood still, while he witnessed Torabu´s and Takai´s fight. Both combatants had locked hands and tried to push the other off balance.<p>

Konran had been distraught from Naruto´s and Sasuke´s fight so far, but he looked to the side to see the prison of ice mirrors. his eyes narrowed, as his suspicion he had was correct. "I knew it," he said.

Sairento looked at him. "Knew what?" she asked.

Konran pointed at the mirrors, showing them to a surprised Sairento, before explaining, "I wondered why a teammate of Zabuza used fire techniques despite him being a water ninja. I then thought about what the kid´s elemental techniques might be. And that is when it hit me: there is a connection."

"A connection?" she asked.

"Zabuza uses water techniques." He pointed at Takai. "She uses fire techniques." Then he pointed at the mirrors. "And the kid uses ice techniques."

Sairento then realized it. "Those three elements cancel each other out!"

"Exactly," he said. "Fire melts ice, ice freezes water, and water extinguishes fire. By having users of one each, they made a perfect balance of elemental Jutsus."

Sakura´s scream was then heard. "SAKURA!" both of them shouted in shock.

Sasuke stood up from the attack. His entire body hurt really badly from the needles, and he was near his limit. _That scream… that was Sakura, _he thought. _What´s happening to her? Where´s Kakashi?_

Naruto, who also lay on the ground, whispered, "Sakura… she´s in… trouble…!"

Sasuke tensed up at that. _We´ve got to break through!_ he thought.

Naruto struggled to get up. "I´ll break us out of here…!" he grunted. Sasuke was stunned to see he still got energy despite the injuries. "I´ll fake him out!" Naruto said confidently.

"You´re exhausting my patience," Haku said annoyed.

Naruto stood up on his legs. He charged his chakra, and dashed toward an exit. When Haku appeared in the mirror at the exit, Naruto jumped back and ran for another exit, Haku following him closely.

"Naruto, behind you!" Sasuke warned.

Naruto turned around, to see Haku throwing needles at him, hitting him in the chest! Naruto fell onto his back, in pain.

"Your chance of escaping my house of mirrors… is zero," Haku stated calmly. "That is absolute."

Sasuke ran to Naruto´s side, worried for his teammate´s safety. "Naruto, can you stand up?" he asked. Naruto tried his hardest to get up. "Try not to use any more chakra, it´ll only help him, now," Sasuke advised.

Naruto looked at his friend. "I know, Sasuke. I know…" he said and was near losing his consciousness.

_We can´t go on like this, _Sasuke thought. _He´s blocking every move we make. I got to find a way to outmaneuver him. _He looked directly at Haku, and said, "My eyes have adjusted to his movements."

"Looking for a counterattack?" Haku asked mockingly, and prepared to throw again. "I´ll save you the trouble."

Haku threw the needles, but Sasuke quickly took one of the used needles and deflected the attacking ones, stunning Haku. The young genin then fell onto his knees, and he yelled at Naruto, "Get up, loser! We gotta team up!" Naruto then struggled to get up.

_I´m aiming at his vital spots now, _Haku thought. _But I can´t get a direct hit._

Naruto sat up. "I know what we have to do, believe it, Sasuke!" he grunted.

Torabu still struggled with the fiery female. "Don´t think you´ll ever win this time!" he grunted.

She chuckled. "What´re you gonna do if I do? Cry to your dead mommy and daddy?"

The cat-boy´s eyes widened at that. "What? How do you know about that?"

She gave an annoying grin. "Since I beat you, I've been hiding outside of Tazuna´s home, eavesdropping on every conversation. And I heard you weeping in your sleep." She then faked a pitying look. "Aww… the little kitty misses his parents."

He was angered. "Shut up!" he yelled. "If you´d been there the whole time, why not kill Tazuna while we were asleep?"

"And miss all of this? No thanks."

Haku prepared to attack from all mirrors again. As Sasuke kept dodging and deflecting the needles, Haku realized, _It´s not just luck, he´s fighting to protect his friend. That´s why he´s so determined, but he can´t possibly see the needles._ Sasuke kept dodging, but then he felt pain in his thigh. He had been hit by a few needles there. _My movements are beyond human speed, _Haku thought. _And yet, somehow, he´s tracking me. Whatever he´s doing, I´ve got to stop him, now!_ He then vanished from all of the mirrors.

"He disappeared!" Sasuke said shocked. "Where´d he go? How can he just vanish? Naruto, you better not pass out again! C´mon, let´s go! I can´t keep protecting you like this!"

Naruto sat up. "Well, then don´t!" he gasped. "I never asked for your help…!" He then fainted.

"You can´t revive him," Haku stated. "He´s reached his limits." Sasuke saw him in one of the topmost mirrors, and threw his needle at it, only for it to bounce off the now empty mirror´s surface. Haku chuckled. "Impressive. You have excellent moves. Your attacks are very skillful." He appeared and threw needles at Sasuke, who dodged them. "But you´ve reached your limits, as well." He then appeared and disappeared in different mirrors. "Motor functions, reflexes, judgement… Your abilities are weakening slowly but surely. Now, you´re finished!"

Sasuke tensed up. He kept telling himself to focus and concentrate. He then felt danger, picked up Naruto, and jumped to avoid the needles. _He saw my moves! _Haku thought in surprise. _But… there´s no way he could do that!_

Panting heavily, Sasuke put down Naruto, and looked at Haku, his eyes both turned into Sharingan Eyes! _Impossible! _Haku thought in shock. _Those eyes… the Sharingan! You´re…_

Sasuke could easily see through the technique. _It´s not complete, but I can see through his deceptions, _he thought.

"So, you too have a Kekkei Genkai, the power of a unique bloodline trait passed down through generations," Haku said. "Impressive. Even though it´s not perfected, to uncover this power in the midst of a lethal attack is an amazing feat." He then prepared to throw again. "And because of that, I won´t be able to fight much longer." He then disappeared and reappeared in different mirrors. "My Jutsu uses a tremendous lot of chakra, and all of these moves also take a lot of energy. There´s no doubt that the longer we fight, the more you will use the Sharingan to perceive my moves."

Sasuke´s eyes were constantly staring at where Haku went. _Even now, his eyes are tracking me, _the assassin thought. _I can´t attack from the front, he´ll just see it and block it. I´ll have to throw him off guard._

Haku then leaped out of the mirror, and was heading towards the unconscious Naruto! Sasuke dashed towards his friend, to save him…

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed.

Kakashi had taken the hit from Zabuza, and were holding his wounded left torso. "You were late, Kakashi," Zabuza stated. "You let your concern for the little punks cloud your mind, adding further to the fog that already hinders your Sharingan. Your eyes are sharp, Kakashi, but not sharp enough to read my moves. Not anymore." He then laughed. "C´mon, Kakashi, I want this to be fun. I want to enjoy myself as I exact my revenge. As for those brats: don´t worry, Haku and Takai have them at their mercy. Now, they´re breathing their last breaths. Right now." He then prepared to strike again. "Relax. You´ll have plenty of time to weep out an apology for failing those brats, when you see them in Hell." He then cackled manically and disappeared into the fog again.

"He said Sasuke… would die…!" Sakura stated, shocked. She then snapped out of it. "No, I won´t believe that! I have faith in him!" Her inner self were violently agreeing, saying while she punched the air, "Sasuke will beat them to a pulp! Cha!" "And that masked kid…!" "He´ll make him wish he was never born!" "I can´t lose Sasuke!" "Everyone who tries to take him from me will pay for it!" "And Naruto either!"

"Exactly."

She looked at her sensei, who has recovered from the attack. "I… I believe in their abilities," he said. "I have faith in them. Naruto: the number one hyperactive ninja. Torabu: our king of troublemakers. Konran: our well-behaved know-it-all. Sairento: our mysterious healer. And Sasuke: heir to the most powerful clan in Konoha."

The hidden Zabuza´s eyes widened at the last bit of information. "You mean…" he realized.

"Yes," Kakashi replied. "His full name… is Sasuke Uchiha! The unique power of the Uchiha clan runs through his veins! The Kekkei Genkai is his birthright!"

"Ah, I heard that a young ninja survived the tragedy of the Uchiha clan," Zabuza said. "No wonder he advances so quickly. But so does Haku. No one can match him!" He then prepared to attack. "No one has ever stopped his Jutsu! Even the most skilled jonin fall before him! Just as you will fall before me! RIGHT NOW!"

"Sakura, stay with Tazuna!" Kakashi ordered, before running into the fog. He then thought, _He´s right: the fight will end, but HE`LL fall before ME!_

Naruto regained consciousness, but when he looked up, he saw Haku on the ground and an even more injured Sasuke. "You always… get in the way, Naruto," the latter said. "It never fails…"

"Hey, you beat him!" Naruto cheered. But then he saw that Sasuke was not just badly injured, needles were sticking _through_ his body!

The injured boy turned his head to look at his friend, blood running from his mouth! "You should see the look on your face…" he struggled to say. "You… You look like a total loser…"

Naruto, shocked and on the verge of tears, sat up. "Why… did you save me?" he asked. "Why did you do it?"

"I don´t know why…" Sasuke wheezed. "I just did…!" Memories began racing through his mind. His encounter and accidental kiss with Naruto… Naruto´s dream of becoming Hokage… The journey to the Land of Waves… Their competitive attitude towards each other… All of them. He then made a remark to Naruto. "You… I hated you…"

Naruto stood up. "Then why? It doesn´t make any sense. Why did you protect me?" he asked. Sasuke just smirked. "I didn´t ask for this!" Naruto yelled. "I didn´t ask for you to save me!"

"…I don´t know…" was Sasuke´s reply. "My body just moved… There was no time to think…" He then fell backwards, uttering his last remark, "…Loser…"

Naruto ran toward to catch his fallen friend. "He… He´s still out there…" Sasuke said. "My brother… I promised myself… I´d… stay alive… until… I´ve… killed him…" He looked at Naruto with pleading eyes. "Naruto… don´t let your dream die…" He then fell limp.

Naruto´s eyes filled with tears, as he hugged his fallen friend.

Takai kicked Torabu in the stomach, making him double over, and threw him at the unfinished edge of the bridge. He luckily held onto the side, avoiding falling off. Takai jumped up on the highest of the ice mirrors, looking at the two boys inside. "One down; seven to go," she said and jumped back.

The cat-boy crawled back onto the bridge, panting heavily. He was almost out of chakra, badly injured, and exhausted. "You´re still alive, Boy?" Takai asked.

The troublemaking ninja stood up. "As long as I´m confident of winning, I´m hard to kill," he said.

She chuckled. "Too bad the same thing don´t apply to your friend."

He looked confused. "What do ya mean?"

"I mean, that the black-haired boy is no more."

Torabu´s eyes widened. _Sasuke´s… dead? _He gritted his teeth, as tears started to emerge. "No…"

Takai then started taunting him some more. "Don´t worry; I´ll personally take you to the vet so I can have you put down. Then you can be together with your friend and parents." She then decided to be crueler in her insults. "I think I have a good explanation as to why you look like that: your mom got raped by a tiger."

He balled his fists, as anger was building up in him. "Shut up…!"

"You´re really an abomination. I´m surprised that you´re not in a zoo."

"Shut up!"

"I bet your mom enjoyed getting impregnated by a tiger."

Those last three insults pushed the cat-boy over the edge. "You…!" he growled. "You can injure my friends, call me names, and beat me to a pulp!" Light-green energy of chakra surrounded him. "But when you kill my friends and insult my parents…!" His face turned into one of pure rage. "I´LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

The seal on his back glowed in the same color as the chakra, making it visible through his shirt, and then a white light blinded everyone around him that was looking at him.

"What´s going on?" asked Sairento, as she covered her eyes.

"How should I know?" responded Konran, also covering his eyes.

The light dimmed down, and the rest of Team 6 and Takai looked in awe at the scene. Torabu stood there, chakra bursting from his body, his tail lashing wildly, his eyes completely white, and his Chakra Claws even bigger! "What the hell?" asked Takai in shock.

Torabu´s response was hissing like a feral animal.

Haku rose up. He remembered how Sasuke took his attacks and countered them. _He found a strength he didn´t realize he had, _he thought. _Why? Because of a certain person who was precious to him. To save that person, he rushed in, knowing it was a trap. He was a true ninja, worthy of honor._ "Is this the first time you have witnessed a friend die in battle?" he asked Naruto. "This is part of what it means to be a ninja." He then retreated back into the mirrors.

"Shut up," Naruto said. He then regarded Sasuke and put him down while saying, "I… I hated you too, Sasuke. And yet…" A big burst of steam and chakra appeared around Naruto. "You´ll pay for this!" he swore to Haku.

The steam and chakra then turned into a red spiral of chakra! It was so violent, that it tore into the surface of the bridge! Naruto looked up, and his calm blue eyes had turned into red vulpine eyes! "I´m gonna kill you!" he swore.

_What is this chakra?_ Haku thought, as the spiral got bigger. _Chakra cannot be seen, yet it´s clearly visible. It´s something ghastly! I can feel the wrath and bloodlust! It´s like evil itself!_

An image of a demonic fox appeared in the chakra! Naruto´s wounds were healed, the needles in him were pushed out, and his nails became like claws! He stood up and looked at Haku, his whisker-like marks more like real whiskers, and an enraged expression on his face.

Kakashi could feel the violent chakra. _Is Zabuza creating this? _he thought. _No! That chakra… I know it! There´s no way…!_

_What is this energy? _Zabuza thought. _It´s something foul! Kakashi? No, it´s too powerful, even for him! Where is it coming from?_

_It´s Naruto!_ Kakashi realized. _This puts everyone in danger! Now, of all times, the seal has been broken! I got to stop it!_

The Kyubi´s chakra vanished, as Naruto changed some more. He looked more animalistic, and his teeth sharpened! He then dashed off on all fours towards the mirror Haku entered, the assassin ready to defend himself. _The bloodlust in his eyes… he´s no longer a child, _the latter thought.

Haku attacked from all the mirrors, hitting Naruto successfully! Naruto tensed his muscles, and the needles burst out of him! He then jumped toward one of the upper mirrors – the one Haku was in – and smashed it with one punch! Haku fell out of the mirror shards, and tried to hit Naruto, but the target jumped away from him. _He´s getting stronger each second! _Haku thought.

He tried to flee back into one of the remaining mirrors, but Naruto grabbed his arm, and more chakra burst from him!

Torabu ran toward his opponent, faster than ever, and tried to scratch her, but she jumped away. She smirked at him. "You might be faster, but you´re still too slow!" she taunted. He just gave her a wicked smile, and she felt great pain at her abdomen. She looked and saw her outfit was ripped, and blood was flowing out of a claw-shaped wound! "What?" she screamed in shock. "He didn´t even hit me! And I didn´t feel any pain until now!"

She clutched her bleeding wound, as Torabu dashed towards her. She kept jumping away, avoiding to get even more clawed. She was getting exhausted. _Where does this energy come from? _Takai thought. _He was out of breath a minute ago!_ "I´ll end this, NOW!" she screamed and jumped into the air. She then made hand-seals, and charged a big fireball in her hands! "Fire Style: Volcano blast!"

Torabu held out his hands, and suddenly lots of cold air gathered in them, forming two balls made of ice! "Ice Style: Subzero Sphere!" he yelled.

She fired the massive fireball, and he flung the ice-ball in his left hand at it. The moment they collided, the fireball _froze, _fell to the ground, and shattered upon contact! Takai´s eyes widened in awestruck horror when she saw it. "NO WAY!"

The enraged, feral cat-boy jumped higher up than her, and flung the second ice-ball at her. She looked at it in absolute horror, and it hit her, freezing her instantly! She fell towards the bridge´s surface, and shattered when she hit it!

Torabu landed and smiled while panting. "Yeah… Take that… you…" he said, before falling unconscious onto his back, his eyes returning to normal, and the chakra and claws disappearing.

_Could it be that the seal has been broken?_ Kakashi thought. _No, it´s been loosened. A piece of the nine-tailed fox´s chakra has slipped through, but the seal still holds. Good. _He then took out a scroll, dipped his thumb in the bleeding wound, opened the scroll, and drew the blood on his thumb across it. _Maybe we still have a chance, just maybe._ "Zabuza, I don´t mean to spoil your fun, I know how you like to stretch these things out, but how about we end things now?" he asked while twirling the scroll around like it was a ribbon. He then unsealed the scroll, and held it in his hand while making hand-seals. "C´mon, what do ya say? We´re both busy people."

"Tempting," Zabuza replied. "I´m curious to see how you attempt to back up such strong words. Show me, Kakashi!"

Naruto´s energy was so strong, that the mirrors cracked. He then reeled back his fist, and punched Haku so hard that he was sent flying into a mirror, shattering it! He rolled on the ground and stopped to see both his mask and the remaining mirrors shattering. _Zabuza, _he thought while rising to his feet. _I am no match for this boy. Master… I have failed._

Naruto, still hell-bent on killing the assassin, ran toward him, jumped into the air, and prepared to strike…

…But stopped, just inches away from his revealed face. He remembered Haku as the guy he thought was a girl. "So, that guy in the woods… that was you?" he asked, now calm.

"Why did you not strike?" asked Haku. "Did you not just vow to avenge your comrade´s death by killing me? Or was that vow just empty words?"

Naruto looked back at the corpse of his friend, got angered – but not as much as before – and punched Haku across the face, sending him to the ground. Haku got up, groaning from the hit, and rubbed the sore spot. "No, that won´t do," he said. "You´re still holding back. If that is all the strength you will put into it, you´ll never keep your vow. Perhaps he didn´t mean as much to you as you pretend."

Naruto remembered Haku´s words about protecting those dear to one. "To show mercy to those who oppose the one you serve, to allow his enemies to live while you can strike them down," Haku said. "This is not compassion; it is a betrayal of your life´s very purpose. From what reason do you exist, then? You´re of use to no one, your life has no meaning. It is mere existence, day after day of pain and struggle, signifying nothing."

"Yeah, well, speak for yourself!" Naruto replied.

"Are you really that blind, little one, I AM speaking for myself." Haku made a small, sad smile. "This day had showed me that I am no longer of use to Zabuza."

"Zabuza… Why that guy, anyway? To devote your life to a rotten scum that doesn´t know anything of honor. If you really devoted your life to a guy like him, man, that´s the sorriest thing I´ve ever heard!"

"There were once others that mattered to me, long ago: my father and my mother. I was born in the Land of Waves, in a small village where the snow lies deep in the winter. My parents were farmers and very poor. Our life was hard, but we were contempt. My parents were good to each other and kind to me. Yes… we were happy once, but then everything changed. Because of something that happened long before I was born, everything changed."

Naruto was intrigued. "What do you mean? What happened?" he asked.

Haku bit his lip. "It was not my doing. It is in the blood."

"The blood?" Naruto then pressed on. "So, what was it? You said about something that changed everything!"

"It was… my father that changed. He killed my mother, and almost killed me. After years of suffering and horrors of civil wars, the people of my land had come to hate and fear anyone who possessed the Kekkei Genkai in their blood."

"Kekkei Genkai?"

"The advanced bloodline trait of a clan, its Jutsus and abilities passed down through generations. Because of those unique abilities, the clans were used as mercenaries. They fought many battles and were much feared. When the wars were over, they were despised and shunned by the people, who feared their presence would lead to more wars and misfortune. So it was that after the wars that the clans went into hiding, denying the bloodline trait that flowed in their veins. Concealing their unique abilities, knowing that if discovered it would mean certain death." He then regarded Sasuke. "If you had searched that boy´s memory, you would have found his, too." He then looked a little angry. "The cruelty of people, their fear of things they don´t understand. For years, my mother was successful in hiding her bloodline trait. She met and fell in love with a simple farmer, and they were married. And after that, my mother thought she would live a peaceful and married life ´til the end of her days."

* * *

><p><em>A young Haku stood before his mother, levitating and manipulating water between his hands! "Mother, look what I can do!" he happily laughed. Unbeknownst to him, his mother was very shocked. "See? Isn´t it beautiful?" he asked.<em>

"_No! You must never!" his mother scolded and slapped the water down onto the ground. "Do you hear? Never! You wicked, wicked child!" She then slapped him. She then came back to her senses, hugged her son, and cried in apology, "I´m sorry. I´m sorry, my darling. I´m sorry."_

_Unfortunately for both of them, a man witnessed what happened._

* * *

><p>"My father had seen, and so he knew our secret – my mother´s and mine," Haku told.<p>

* * *

><p><em>A young Haku crawled against a wall in his house, trembling in fear of the villagers surrounding him. One of them raised his hand, and…<em>

* * *

><p><em>Haku was then outside, lying in the snow, crying. Behind him, in his house, were several spikes of ice piercing through it!<em>

* * *

><p>"When I finaly regained my senses, I was no longer myself. My mother and father were gone, but I knew that something else was taken from me, something even more important. And that is when I truly despaired."<p>

"More important than your mother and father? What?" asked Naruto.

"My purpose," Haku answered. "In the entire world, there was no one who needed me. I was… unnecessary."

Naruto realized something: Haku felt like himself once.

"Why is it you are so determined to be Hokage?" Haku asked. "Because you want all eyes of your people on you and recognize you as a great ninja. You see it as only through the eyes of others that your little life will gain significance. When someone ignores you or dismisses you, it feels like you don´t exist." He then returned to his backstory. "Then Zabuza came along and looked at me, and his eyes were not full of hate or fear. He did not shun me for my strangeness. Indeed, my special powers were just what he wanted. He made me necessary again."

* * *

><p><em>Haku sat on the bridge, looking up at Zabuza. It was right after the remark about their eyes being the same. "Well, little one," the latter of the two started. "Will you stay here and die, or come with me and be of some use? Will you serve my will, and submit to my will and all things?"<em>

_A little silence went between them, until Haku answered with a nod. "Then your special abilities belong to me, from now on," Zabuza confirmed._

_Haku stood up and walked over to the rouge ninja, who took him under his arm and started walking. "Let us go, then," Zabuza said._

* * *

><p>"After some time, we met Takai – the woman your other friends are facing – and took her along." Haku smiled. "I was happy."<p>

* * *

><p><em>Haku, Zabuza, and Takai stood on a hill overlooking the hidden mist village. "My time here is done, you two," Zabuza said. "Tonight, I cast aside the Land of Waves. One day, I will return, seize this land, and hold it in my hands. Many things must be done before that day comes, and you will help me to do them. But I warn you; friendship, comfort, encouragement. I do not need these things, nor should you expect them from me."<em>

"_I understand," Haku affirmed with a smile. "I am only an instrument of your will, Zabuza. Think of me as your weapon at your side, and use me as you see fit."_

"_I´m with you all the way, too," Takai agreed._

_Zabuza gave them a smile. "Well said, children."_

* * *

><p>Haku´s expression turned grim. "I have failed you, Zabuza. I´m like a weapon that´s been broken and deemed useless." He looked at Naruto, and walked closer to him. "Naruto… kill me."<p>

Kakashi unleashed his Jutsu. "Ninja Art, Summoning!" he shouted, and pushed his hands against the surface of the bridge. "Earth Style: Fanged Pursuit Jutsu!"

"I don´t know why you bother," Zabuza mocked. "Of what use is this Jutsu if you can´t find me? But I can find you." Kakashi didn´t respond. "Blindly falling into my trap… You disappoint me, Kakashi." Zabuza then prepared to strike. "I think you´re right, it IS time to end this fight."

He then felt the ground shake, and from underneath him, suddenly, eight different dogs jumped through the concrete foothold and bit him in several places! Zabuza screamed as he got bitten by a pug, a bulldog, a white dog, a dog with a black crest on its head, a dog with droopy ears, a dog with sunglasses, a dog with bandages, and a dog with a ninja headband on its forehead.

"That dreadful noise, what can it be?" asked a frightened Tazuna.

"I´m not sure, and I don´t wanna find out," Sakura replied.

Kakashi stood up, and said, "I figured if I couldn´t see you, I had to smell you out. That was a Summoning Jutsu. I was calling forth my ninja hounds. They can track a scent _anywhere_. When you attacked me, I _let _you get past my guard. I _wanted _you to cut me. You see; it´s the smell of my blood on your blade that lead them to you. Surprised? Looks like I wasn´t the only one that was blind. Falling into my trap… You disappoint me, Zabuza." The mist then thinned. "Ah, the mist is finally clearing. And you know what I see? Your death!"

"Talk, talk," Zabuza grunted. "Do you mean to talk me to death?"

"In a way, yes. Right now, my hounds are just playing with you, but one word from me and they´ll tear you apart." Kakashi then started mocking the assassin. "Poor Zabuza… See where your ambitions got you? You were always pushing things too far. There was the failed Mizukage assassination for an example. You were forced to flee with the few followers you had, your country´s tracker ninjas hot on your heels. You became a rouge ninja whose name was quickly known, even in Konoha. Now, you´re crazy enough to wanna go back and try it again, but for that you needed money, and to get it you stooped so low as to be the hired thug of a swine known as Gato." Kakashi then turned serious again. "Alright, Zabuza, enough talk. Time to finish this, but it won't be with the Sharingan, or imitations of other ninjas´ tricks. No, it´s time I introduced you to _my own _Jutsu!"

Kakashi then made hand-seals, and a lot of chakra gathered into his right hand, taking the shape of an electric orb! "Lightning Blade!" he yelled and prepared to attack.

_Chakra so strong it's visible?_ Zabuza thought in panic. _Only in his hand!_

"I won´t allow you to kill Tazuna, he´s a brave man with a noble dream. The bridge he´s building is the hope of this land and its entire people. You´re like a disease: by attacking one, you infect all. You don´t care. That is not the way of the ninja."

"You´re right," Zabuza said. "I DON´T CARE! Its useless little people and their petty dreams… Why should they matter to me? I have a dream of my own!"

"But to have a dream, you need to have a future. You_ don´t_!" Kakashi said, as he finished charging the Lightning Blade. "Your future´s all used up, Zabuza."

"Go on, strike! Kill me!" Haku pleaded. Naruto didn´t bulge an inch. "Why do you hesitate?" asked Haku.

Naruto backed off, while saying, "That´s the most ridiculous story I´ve ever heard. I mean, he treats you like a slave. You´re a human being, not a weapon or a tool, how can you care about someone like that?"

"For that very reason," Haku answered. "Does that seem so strange to you?"

"Well, yeah, a little."

"When he found me, I was without a purpose or reason for living. Zabuza gave me both."

* * *

><p><em>Haku ran happily with a white rabbit. The little critter then jumped out of his arms and into some bushes. Zabuza and Takai then appeared behind the bush,the former of them holding the rabbit by its ears. Haku took the rabbit and cuddled it, while Zabuza ruffled his hair and Takai giggled at their family-like actions.<em>

* * *

><p>"But now, my usefulness is over, the only thing that gave my life meaning," Haku said sadly. "It´s gone… I´m a broken tool, a blunted weapon of no use to anyone…" He then looked directly at Naruto. "Go on, Naruto… Do it! For both of our sakes! Do it… quickly!"<p>

* * *

><p>(dopliss´ room explodes)<p>

dopliss: (exits the room) That´s the last time I ever try to make popcorn in a nuclear reactor!

Mizuki: (exits while covered in soot, and coughing) Why did you try that in the first place?

dopliss: It sounded like a fun thing to do while the chapter is happening. Clean this up!

Mizuki: No!

dopliss: (points bazooka at him) Do it! NOW!


	12. Chapter 12 Arc one fully finished

**dopliss: Alright, third time´s the charm.**

**Mizuki: I sure hope so. You´ve postponed the ending with two chapters.**

**dopliss: And while you´re cleaning the room, I´m gonna finish the arc. This time, for good!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, there would be much more swearing in the English dub.**

**A/n: I haven´t disappointed any Naruto fans… right?**

* * *

><p>Inari was running as fast as he could. "Naruto and the others are fighting and risking their lives, while the rest of us are doing nothing," he said to himself. "We´ve gotta fight, too!"<p>

He ran up to a house and knocked on the door. "Uncle Giichi!" he called out. "Uncle Giichi, hurry! You have to come to the bridge with me! We don´t have to hide any longer! If we all fight together, we can finally take Gato down, I know we can!"

Inari then tried to open the door, but he heard it being locked from the inside. "No, Inari," Giichi said from behind the door. "I have given up fighting. Fighting is for heroes… like your father. And see how good it did him. Isn´t one dead hero enough?" Inari cringed at the memory. "What would more fighting bring us but more falling heroes and more regrets? No, Inari… my heart is already full of regrets… to last a lifetime."

Inari balled his hands into fists. "Well, I don´t wanna live a life of regrets either," he said. ""And THAT´S why we gotta fight!"

He then remembered something Kaiza once told him: "_Live your life so you have nothing to regret._"

"I know you care about everyone in the village, and so do I! You, Mother, Grandfather, and everyone!" he continued. "That is why we have to fight!" There was a little silence, before Inari told, "All of my life I´ve been a coward, but now I know that crying and hiding from things that we´re afraid of… doesn´t make them go away." He then turned around and ran off.

Giichi stood behind the door, conflicting with himself about the young boy´s words. He then heard Inari calling out to the other villagers, wanting their help as well. Giichi´s wife sat in another room, while knitting. "Our little Inari has become a man," she said. "And you, dear… are you sure you´re gonna send him off on his own?"

Inari tried in vain to get the other´s help. "What am I gonna do now?" he asked himself. "Not one of them would even open the door to listen." He then remembered Naruto and Torabu praising his courage. _Well then… if no one else would help…_ he thought and ran off.

* * *

><p>Back on the fog covered bridge, Haku was still trying to convince Naruto to kill him. "I thought you wanted to be a mighty warrior," Haku said in a goading manner.<p>

"That´s not what it´s about," Naruto retorted. "Do you really believe that´s all there is to it, just fighting and killing ´til there´s only one man left standing? There´s a lot more to be a ninja than that, and there are other ways to prove your strength than beating someone in battle."

Haku then had something to tell: "I´ve had a feeling all along. From the first time we met in the forest. We´re a lot alike." Naruto´s eyes widened at the last statement. "I´m sure you know what I mean. I am only sorry that it´ll be _your_ hand that will be covered in my unworthy blood."

Naruto seemed to be hesitating more. "Sure about this?" he asked. "And you´re possible that it´s the only way?"

"Yes," Haku answered.

Naruto closed his eyes. "The weird thing is, if we met another time and place, I think that maybe we could´ve been friends." He then opened his eyes, determination in them. He took a kunai from his weapon belt and ran towards Haku.

_Yes, that´s right… hold fast to your dreams,_ Haku thought.

"This is for Sasuke, because he also had a dream!" Naruto yelled.

Haku smiled. He was grateful that Naruto would end his life.

Tazuna looked around. "Hmm… At last, I think this blasted fog is lifting," he said.

Sakura could trace out her sensei´s and the assassin´s forms through the slowly lifting fog. "Look, they´re standing still, like they´re squaring off," she said.

"Yeah? I can´t see a thing," the bridge builder stated.

"Which one of them is Kakashi-sensei?" She then noticed something. "One of them is moving!"

Haku could feel that his master was in danger. He blocked Naruto´s attack with one hand, and said, "Sorry, Naruto, change of plans." He then made hand-seals with his free hand. "I´m not ready to die, yet." He then disappeared, using his speed.

Kakashi ran towards Zabuza with his Lightning Blade in his right hand. Then, another ice mirror appeared near them, but both didn´t see it. _Is this the end?_ Zabuza thought.

Kakashi reached his target, reeled back his right hand, and attacked.

Blood splattered out. Zabuza was shocked. The force of the attack could be felt by the others. Kakashi stared in shock himself, as his ninja hounds disappeared. The canines disappeared because the scroll used to summon them was pierced by needles. The ice mirror was covered in blood. And Kakashi stared in shock because he didn´t hit Zabuza…

…He hit Haku! His hand was going through the young boy´s chest, still sparking with lightning! The lightning disappeared… Haku threw up blood… and uttered his last word, "Za…bu…za…"

"So, my future is all used up, huh?" Zabuza asked Kakashi. He then laughed. "Wrong again, Kakashi."

* * *

><p>"Don´t be ridiculous, you are not going to the bridge by yourself," Tsunami said to Inari.<p>

The boy had gotten home and decided to gear up to fight. He wore a brown, armored helmet, a quiver full of arrows, and a crossbow. "I have to go by myself, because none of the others would come with me," he said. "I have no choice."

Tsunami looked worried at him. "You shouldn´t go at all." Her son didn´t listen and walked to the door. "Stop this! You´re only a child! What do you think you can do?"

Inari stopped. "You´re right: I am just a kid." He turned around and smiled at his mother. "But a kid who knows what it means to stand and fight. I´m my father´s kid."

Tsunami could see that her son was being like her late husband. When Inari walked out of the door, she called, "No! Inari, wait!"

When Inari looked outside, he saw something incredible.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked around in confusion, wondering where his opponent went. He then noticed two things: that the fog was lifting, and where Haku was. He moved closer, and was shocked at the sight. "What the heck´s going on here?" he asked.<p>

Sairento and Konran noticed the brutally killed dead body of their opponent. Both were shocked to the point of not moving or saying anything.

"Isn´t that… the young man with the mask?" Sairento finally asked.

"The boy threw himself in front of my attack," Kakashi said. He then looked at the assassin. "He saved your worthless life at the cost of his own."

Zabuza chuckled. "Well done, Haku," he said. He then took his sword and prepared to strike.

_He is going to cut through the boy to get to me?_ Kakashi though.

"I knew I found a treasure when I found you, boy," Zabuza said while lifting his blade. "You have not only given me my life, but Kakashi´s as well!"

Naruto gritted his teeth as he remembered what Haku had told him.

Zabuza stroked, but Kakashi took the body and jumped away. When he landed, the assassin laughed, "Not bad for having a corpse in your arms."

"You´ll pay for that!" Naruto yelled.

"No! Stay out of this, Naruto!" his sensei yelled back and placed the body on the ground. He then closed Haku´s eyes – which were open long after he died – and said, "This is MY battle, Zabuza´s mine!"

Sakura then noticed her friends. "Naruto! Sairento! Konran! Over here!" she shouted to them.

The two members of Team 6 picked up their unconscious friend and walked over to Sakura, while Naruto felt incredible sadness. "Where´s Sasuke? Is he alright?" Sakura asked.

Naruto cringed. He couldn´t handle to tell her what happened. Sakura and the other two genin then feared the worst had happened.

"Kakashi!" Zabuza yelled, while running towards the jonin. "I´d stay focused, if I were you!" He tried to strike, but Kakashi kicked him in the head.

"Let me take you to him, Sakura," Tazuna offered sadly. "As long as we stay together, you won´t be disobeying your sensei´s orders."

Sakura took the bridge builder´s hand. "T-Thank you…" she said with a really sad voice.

Konran looked at Naruto. "He´s dead… isn´t he?" he asked.

Naruto closed his eyes. "Sasuke…" he whispered.

Sakura and Tazuna hovered above Sasuke´s needle-pierced corpse. The former of the two looked away in sadness, while the latter was horrified and sad beyond belief.

She fell down on her knees and touched the body´s cheek with her right hand. "His body´s cold…" she said. "This isn´t one of his Genjutsus, isn´t it?"

Tazuna looked at her. "Go on, you don´t need to be brave on my account," he said. "Go ahead and let your feelings out, Sakura, it´s alright."

"…I was the best…" she whispered. "I aced every test in the school… The perfect student…" She then talked directly to the bridge builder. "Did you know there are more than 100 principles of ninja conduct? I memorized every single one. I used to love it when they tested us on them… giving me a chance to show how smart I was." Her voice was starting to crack up. "I remember so clearly this one exam. They asked us to explain the 25th principle. I got it right, of course." She started crying. "'A ninja never shows his feelings, no matter what the circumstance is. Feelings are a weakness. They only cloud your judgment and sense of duty.'" She then broke down, and cried on Sasuke´s chest. "SASUKE!"

_To put such an unbearable burden on a young girl´s shoulders…_ Tazuna thought. _If that´s the ninja way, they can have it._

Naruto felt needles sting his heart each time Sakura sobbed. He felt incredibly bad for letting his friend sacrifice his life for him.

Zabuza and Kakashi stood on the bridge, with big distance between them. Zabuza had been hit, and had two kunai sticking out of his left arm, making it useless! He was also panting heavily. _Why…? Why can´t I keep up with him?_ he thought.

Zabuza then tried to strike again, but Kakashi punched him aside. The jonin then delivered a stronger backhand punch to the assassin´s face. Enraged, Zabuza yelled, "I´ll split you in half!" and tried to hit Kakashi with his remaining arm, which was holding the sword.

Kakashi dodged and went behind Zabuza to hold him by the neck. "Look at you, you´re falling apart," the former said. "I knew you didn´t have what it takes for the long haul."

"What did you say?" the assassin snarled.

"You have no idea of what _real_ strength is."

"Well, well, well. So this how it turns out, huh?" a person far from the fight said.

Kakashi took two more kunai, and held them in a stabbing position. "Game over! You lose!" he said.

As the jonin moved to stab Zabuza, the assassin spun the other way to hit his opponent with his sword. The result was the kunai stabbing Zabuza´s remaining arm, and Kakashi slung away by the force of the arm! Kakashi landed on his feet, and Zabuza´s sword fell out of his hand and to the side. "Now, both of your arms are useless," the former said. "What now? You can´t even make hand-seals."

They all then heard someone talking. "Did quite a job on you, didn´t he, Zabuza?" the person said. "You look like yesterday´s sashimi."

The person revealed himself to be none other than Gato. "I must say I´m… disappointed," he said. He had every right to be cocky, because behind him stood all of his goons, all heavily armed. They had all sailed up to the unfinished part of the bridge and climbed it.

"Gato? I don´t understand, what is all this?" Zabuza asked. "Why are you here? And who are these thugs you´ve brought with you?"

"Well, you see, there´s been a slight change of plan," Gato answered. "According to the new plan, you die right here on this bridge, Zabuza."

The assassin´s eyes widened in anger upon hearing that he´d been betrayed. "What?"

"That´s right, you´re too expensive, so I decided to take you off the payroll. Of course, even these thugs that I´ve brought with me cost something, so if you could manage to slaughter a few of them before they take you down, I´d appreciate it. Think you can manage that, demon ninja of the mist?" He laughed. "Look at you, you look about as demonic like a wet kitten." The goons laughed at their boss´ insult.

_There´re so many of them!_ Naruto thought. _One rouge ninja was bad enough!_

"Well, well, Kakashi," Zabuza started. "It would seem our fight is at an end. Since I am no longer in Gato´s deploy, Tazuna is safe. We have no quarrel."

"Yeah, I suppose you´re right," Kakashi agreed.

Gato walked over to Haku´s body and a piece of Takai´s frozen face. He looked at Haku, and said, "That reminds me. You little punk! You grabbed me and nearly broke my arm! I have been meaning to repay you for that!" He then kicked the corpse, shocking and disgusting our heroes. He then looked at the piece of Takai´s face. "And you, to think that such a woman with a fiery spirit like you, would end up getting the cold shoulder." He then stepped on Haku´s corpse. "I just wish they were alive to experience this."

Enraged, Naruto ran at the tycoon, while yelling, "Get away! Get away from him, you scum!"

Kakashi grabbed Naruto and tried to calm him down. "Use your head!" he said.

Naruto then looked at the assassin. "Well, what about you, Zabuza?" he asked. "You´re gonna let him do that?"

"Be quiet, you fool," Zabuza said. "They´re dead, what does it matter?"

"You mean you can just stand there and watch them get treated like dogs? You were together for years, doesn´t that mean anything?"

"You don´t understand the way of a ninja. I merely used them, just like Gato used me. Now, it´s over. Their usefulness is at an end. The loss of their strength and skills, yes, THAT means something to me. But themselves… nothing."

Naruto gritted his teeth. "If you mean that… you´re an even bigger rat than I thought."

"Calm down, Naruto," Kakashi said. "He´s not the enemy… not right now."

Naruto broke free of his sensei´s grasp, and shouted, "Shut up! As far as I´m concerned, he´s enemy number one!" He then calmed down. "Why you… you ungrateful… After everything they did for you… They both lived for you! You were the most important person in the world for them! And they mean nothing to you? Nothing at all? I don´t know about the woman, but he was sacrificing everything for you! You never felt anything at all for them?" He then thought about something. "And if I were to become stronger… would I become as cold-hearted as you are? He threw his life away, and for what: for you and your dream!" He started to feel sad himself. "You never let him have a dream of his own, but he didn´t care. And you just toss him aside, like he was nothing. 'A broken tool'? Man, that´s so wrong. SO WRONG!"

"…You talk too much…" Zabuza said. He turned around to show that he was crying on his own. "Your words cut deep, deeper than any blade. While he fought you, his heart was breaking in two. You see, Haku was always too soft and too kind. He felt pain and sorrow. And now, curse him, I feel them too. And something else: I feel contempt that this is the way it ends." He then ripped the bandages that covered his mouth off with his teeth. "Well, cat got your tongue? Are you so surprised to discover that I´m human? Even ninjas are human. No matter how hard we try, we always fail to escape that simple fact. Well at least, I have failed. Boy! Give me your kunai!"

Naruto hesitated for a moment, but gave in and threw it to him. "Here," he said.

Memories of Haku and Takai went through his mind, as Zabuza grabbed the kunai with his mouth and ran towards Gato. The tycoon gave the order to eliminate the assassin, while going behind the thugs. Zabuza ran between the goons, cutting them with his kunai all the while! He also dodged their attacks. He was then stabbed in the back by a spear, but he continued his assault!

Gato reached the end of the bridge, trapped between the sea and an assassin hell-bent on killing him. He was terrified when Zabuza made it through his army – weapons sticking out of him – and running towards him at full speed! He – and only he – then saw a demonic figure surrounding the assassin! "H-He´s the d-devil!" he stuttered in panic.

Zabuza then came close to the tycoon and stabbed him in the chest! The assassin was then stabbed in the back by more weapons, but showed no sign of weakening! "You crazy fool…! If you are so eager to join your friends, go ahead…!" Gato wheezed. "But you´re not taking me… Not this time…!

"I won´t be joining Haku," Zabuza stated. "Where he´s gone I cannot follow. We wouldn´t be welcome where Haku´s gone to. Hell´s where WE´RE going, Gato! I can´t think of a more fitting destination for a demon ninja, can you? I´m told there´s many demons down there – of all shapes and sizes! Oh yes, I should fit right in! You, on the other hand, Gato… Well, I fear you´re in for a long and very painful eternity!" He then cut the tycoon several times with the kunai and finished with sending him off the bridge!

Everyone looked at Zabuza in awe. The assassin then glared at the goons, and they backed off, making a direct pathway to Haku´s body. Zabuza let go of the bloodstained kunai and wobbled over to his dead comrade. He fell onto his knees when he reached the halfway point. He then saw Haku – standing and dressed in his casual clothes – surrounded by a shining light. "So, this is… goodbye… at last…" Zabuza gasped. "Not once did I ever thank you, Haku… Forgive me for that…" He then fell unconscious.

Naruto looked away from the motionless assassin. "Don´t turn away," Kakashi said. "When you live like a warrior, this is how it ends."

* * *

><p><em>Sasuke was in a total dark place. <em>Where am I? _he asked himself. _Am I alive, or… Sakura… Can it be?

* * *

><p>Sasuke slowly regained consciousness. He was alive! He saw Sakura crying on his chest. "Sakura… it´s hard to breathe with you on top of me," he whispered.<p>

Sakura looked at the revived boy. "Tazuna… he´s alive. Sasuke´s alive!" she cheered and hugged the boy of her dreams, now crying tears of joy.

"Sakura, that hurts…" Sasuke complained.

_So, everything turned out right, after all,_ Tazuna thought while wiping his eyes.

"It´s a miracle…" Sairento whispered, unseen tears running from her eyes.

"True…" Konran agreed.

Sasuke tried to sit up, despite the pain and Sakura´s advice not to. "How´s Naruto?" he asked. "And what happened to that guy in the mask?"

"Naruto´s fine, but the one in the mask… he died," Konran told.

Sasuke jerked up at that. "Dead? But how? Did Naruto do it?"

"I am not sure what happened, because I was following Torabu´s fight. I think he was protecting Zabuza."

They all looked at their friends, the goons, and Haku´s corpse. _He never meant to… from the very beginning,_ Sasuke thought.

"Speaking of Torabu, what happened to him?" asked Sakura.

"He won, but he overused his chakra," Sairento explained. "He´s over there, but he´s unconscious."

"NARUTO!" Konran yelled. "Look! Sasuke is alive!"

Naruto turned around to see his earlier dead comrade rising to his feet. Sasuke raised his hand in hello. Naruto was incredibly happy. So happy that he smiled, and tears were forming in his eyes. He wondered how, but then he remembered Zabuza´s words about Haku being too soft.

"Well, well, will wonders never cease?" Kakashi said. "Amazing."

"Hey!" one of the thugs said. "Don´t go gettin´ too comfortable."

"This party ain´t over yet," another thug said. "Who´s gonna pay us now that Gato´s gone?"

"No way we´re gonna leave here empty-handed," the first thug said. "So we´ll just have to hit that village and see what they´ve got for us." The other thugs shouted in agreement.

"Not good," Kakashi said.

Naruto turned to his sensei, and said, "C´mon, Kakashi-sensei, you must have a Jutsu that can take care of this bunch of losers!"

"Not right now, I used too much chakra."

"Get ´em, boys!" one of the thugs yelled, and the whole group rushed towards our heroes.

The goons were stopped when an arrow landed in front of them. Everyone looked towards the finished edge of the bridge, and saw Inari, Tsunami, Giichi, and the other villagers, armed with weapons. "There´s one little thing you´re forgetting about," Giichi said. "Before you set one foot in our village, you´ll have to go through all of us!" And the villagers raised their weapons in agreement.

Inari smiled at Naruto. "Heroes usually show up at the last minute, you know," he said.

Tazuna was moved to tears. "They´ve all come… the whole village…"

Naruto decided to 'join the fun', and used his Shadow Clone Jutsu to create five of him. Kakashi decided that he had enough chakra to help, so he made his own Shadow Clone Jutsu, but he created an army of clones! "Okay, still want to fight?" they all asked.

The thugs were scared by the massive number of opponents to face, and they all ran like cowards to their boats. The villagers and our heroes cheered in victory.

Kakashi walked over to Zabuza, who had regained consciousness. "Sounds like it´s over," the latter said.

"Yeah," Kakashi confirmed.

"Kakashi… I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"Take me to him. Before I go, I need to see him one… last… time."

Kakashi covered his Sharingan Eye. "Sure," he replied.

Kakashi removed the weapons that was sticking out of Zabuza and carried him to Haku´s corpse, while snow started to fall. Zabuza looked at the snow. "Is that you… Haku?" he asked in a whisper. "Are you weeping?"

Kakashi then made it to Haku´s body and put the assassin down next to his friend. "Thank you, Kakashi," he said. Zabuza turned his head to look at his dead friend. "You were always at my side; the least I can do is being beside you at the end." He used the last of his powers to reach up to touch Haku´s face. "I know it cannot be, but I wish I could go to where you have gone. How I wish I could join you there, Haku." He then died, and as the sun shined down on them, a single tear escaped Haku´s eye.

Even Naruto was crying. "He told me that it was always snowing where he came from. All the time," he sniffed.

"Of course. His spirit was as pure as the snow…"

Everyone looked in the direction where the voice came from, and all saw Takai, standing at Torabu´s unconscious body, and alive! "You!" Konran shouted. "How did you-" He then realized it. "Of course! It was another Fire Clone that got killed!"

Takai looked down at the cat-boy and kneeled down to grab him. "Get away from him, you witch!" Naruto yelled and ran towards her.

He stopped the moment he saw what she was doing: hugging his friend. "Poor thing…" she said.

* * *

><p><em>Takai sat outside of Tazuna´s house, listening to Sairento´s and Kakashi´s conversation. <em>Bo-ring,_ she thought. _They can talk about preparation as much as they want, but we-

_She then heard Torabu crying in his sleep, yelling out to his dead parents. Tears ran from her eyes, as she learned this fact from the boy´s screaming and crying. _You… You lost your parents? You´re only a kid, you loved your parents, and you lost them. _She then jumped away from the house, landed on top of another house´s roof, sat down, and cried. "You´ve been through much worse than I have," she wailed. "I´m sorry, kid. I´m sorry!"_

* * *

><p>"Hey, what´re you doing?" Naruto asked.<p>

Takai didn´t move at all. "I realized your friend have been through worse than myself," she said.

"How so?"

"My father hated me. I left him when I had enough of his abuse. I bet your friend loved his parents. It must have pained him deeply when he lost them." She let go of him and stood up. "I also realize he and I are a lot alike."

"How?"

She smiled and put a hand on Naruto´s shoulder, as the other ninjas approached the two. "Both he and I have great friends. Well, I used to." She then walked towards her fellow assassins´ corpses.

"You had your chance to kill him for revenge," Kakashi stated. "Why didn´t you do it?"

The fiery female chuckled. "I already took his first kiss, why would I take his life, as well?"

Everyone was baffled at her answer. "His first… kiss?" Sakura asked in confusion.

Takai looked at them. "Unless you have something better to do, do you mind helping me burry my friends?"

* * *

><p>Later their graves were made by Team 7, Kakashi, Takai, and the awake members of Team 6 (Torabu was still unconscious). Zabuza´s sword stuck out of his, while Haku´s needles laid in his.<p>

"Is this really it, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. "Is that the ninja way? To use and be used by people as tools?"

"Ninjas are all merely tools in the hand of destiny," Kakashi answered. "No pointin wondering whether it´s right or wrong, it just is. It´s the same in Konoha."

"Well, if you ask me, if that´s what being a ninja is all about, something´s out of whack," Naruto said. "Is that why we go through all of this training, just to end up like them?"

"What is the reason for that?" asked Sasuke.

Kakashi sighed, and said, "Well, it is a question without an answer, and that is something we ninjas have to live with every day of our lives. Like Zabuza and the kid."

"Okay!" Naruto then said. "I´ve just come to a decision. From now on, I´m finding my own ninja way! A way that´s straight, and true, and without any regrets! From now on, I´m following the way of Naruto!"

Kakashi chuckled at his student´s determination.

"Well, I´ll be leaving, now," Takai said and started walking.

"Where´re you going? Aren´t you worried about ANBU?" Konran asked.

"My village is no more, so ANBU won´t be on my heels," she answered. "And for where I´m going…" She turned her head to smile at them. "To find peace." She then walked on. "Oh, and if the kitty wakes up, tell him I´m sorry for all of those insults."

"We will," Sakura assured.

* * *

><p>Time passed. Torabu woke up later the day the fight happened and got to know Takai was alive, and days later, the bridge was fixed. "We could never have fixed the bridge without you," Tazuna praised. "I can´t tell how much we´re gonna miss you."<p>

"Do be careful," Tsunami said.

"Thank you for everything," Kakashi said.

"Now, now, don´t get all choked up," Torabu said. "We´ll be visiting real soon."

"Do you swear that you will?" asked Inari, who was on the verge of crying.

Naruto – who was on the verge of crying himself – replied, "Of course. You know, Inari, it´s okay to cry if you want. There´s nothing wrong with that. Go forth."

"Who says I wanna cry? Anyway, if there´s nothing wrong with it, then why don´t you go on and cry?"

Now it was a competition of being the last one to cry between the two boys. "No, you first," Naruto said. None of them broke down crying, until Naruto turned around to leave. Then both let go of the waterworks at the same time.

_Boys can be so pathetic,_ Sakura thought.

Our heroes then left, while Tazuna said to Inari, "It was all his doing. That boy made you stronger, Inari, and you in turn made the rest of us stronger. It was thanks to that boy, we were able to build a bridge to a land we´ve never known. A place where we found our courage. A place to fulfill our dreams."

"Say, speaking of the bridge, now that it´s finished, eh, shouldn´t we name it?" Giichi asked.

"Yes, of course. And I know just the name."

"You do? What?"

"We´ll call it… the Great Naruto Bridge."

Tsunami giggled. "That´s a very good name," she said.

"You sure about that name, Tazuna?" Giichi asked.

"It´s a name that brought us good luck," Tazuna said. "It´ll do the same for the bridge. I think this bridge will stand for a long, long time. Perhaps it would even be famous, one day. The name 'Naruto' known throughout the world. That would be something, wouldn´t it?"

"As soon as we get back, I´m gonna get myself a huuge meal!" Torabu exclaimed.

"Same here!" Naruto agreed. "I´m also gonna tell Iruka-sensei and Konohamaru about this."

"Sasuke, when we come back, wanna go do something together?" Sakura asked.

"I don´t think so. Thanks," Sasuke responded.

"Hey, Torabu, Takai told us to tell you something," Sairento said.

"Really? What?" the cat-boy asked.

Konran then decided to mock his friend. "Yeah, she said 'I´ll see you later for more kisses, boyfriend'." Then he made kissy noises.

Torabu blushed with embarrassment. "What? She told you ´bout that?"

"With details."

On a rooftop in the village, Takai looked at the leaving ninjas with a smile on her lips. _Torabu… don´t think you´ve seen the last of me, _she thought and disappeared.

* * *

><p>dopliss: Alright! The arc is done, the room is cleaned, and there´s more chapters to come!<p>

Mizuki: So keep reading, folks!

Both: ´Cause next up is the Chunin Exam arc!


	13. Chapter 13 Arc two, commencing

**dopliss: Time for the next arc!**

**Mizuki: Are you also gonna change some things here?**

**dopliss: Let´s find out!**

**Disclaimer: For the 13****th**** time: I don´t own Naruto!**

**A/n: If I have disappointed some of you Naruto fans, then leave reviews and state what I did wrong.**

* * *

><p>Torabu awoke in his apartment. He had, ever since he returned to Konoha, rested in his room. He got up, did his usual morning routine, and thought about what prank to come up with for the day.<p>

He then thought it best to make his shenanigans after he had seen his friends and teammates. "Might as well use the time with them on planning," he said and left his apartment.

* * *

><p>At a small bridge that was going over a creek, Sasuke, Sakura, Sairento and Konran was patiently waiting. They then spotted the two remaining members of their teams arrive from each side of the bridge. "Good morning, guys!" Naruto greeted. He then spotted his friend and rival, Sasuke, who was leaning on the bridge´s railing. Both glared daggers at each other, before turning away.<p>

_Good grief, not again, _Sakura thought. _They have been like this ever since we came back from the Land of Waves. They´re like a couple of stubborn children. _Her inner self was aware of the situation. "Cha! Hurry up, Kakashi-sensei! We´ve had it!" it said.

"So, why are we here, again?" the cat-boy asked his friends.

"Sensei called us here for our next mission, I think," Konran answered.

Time passed, and the young genin were starting to get very bored. Kakashi then appeared on the railing. "Hey, guys, good morning," he casually greeted. "Sorry I´m late. I´m afraid I got lost on the path of life." The genin (except Sasuke and Sairento) were not pleased by the excuse.

"I´m ready for the next ninja mission, Sensei!" Naruto said enthusiastically, once he and the others calmed down. "And no more of that stupid beginner stuff, okay? I wanna prove myself! I´m talking ´bout a real mission, where I can show what I´m made of!" Flames of enthusiasm appeared around him and in his eyes. "I gotta break out! I´m burning up! SEE?"

"Uh, right, I get it. That´s great, Naruto," Kakashi lazily said. "Now, take it easy, would ya?"

Naruto´s enthusiasm changed to jealousy when he turned to look at Sasuke. His flames even turned blue for emphasis. _Sasuke! He´s always rescuing everybody on our missions, _he thought. _Trying to grab all the glory and make me look like a chump! But he´ll never get the edge on me!_

Sasuke just looked at Naruto like he was just some idiot, while Sakura looked at the latter in annoyance. _He´s such an idiot,_ she thought.

Naruto then imagined Sasuke in peril and him saving his endangered friend. "BELIEVE IIIIT!" he yelled.

"Let us know when you´re done daydreaming, Naruto," Sairento stated. "We need to start the mission."

* * *

><p>Later, Team 7 was doing the mission in store for them: Picking up weeds. Naruto then decided to beat Sasuke at picking up, so he picked up faster, ending up picking up all of the plants in his spot. The client, to say the least, was NOT pleased. At least, now Naruto knows why picking up someone´s herbs is a bad idea.<p>

* * *

><p>Later, they were picking up thrash in a river. Naruto then slipped and fell into it, going along the stream towards a waterfall. He fell down the waterfall, but was lucky that Sasuke saved him by hanging down a zipline, with the remark: "You are such a loser".<p>

* * *

><p>Later still, they were then walking with dogs. And, of course, Naruto <em>had <em>to pick the largest of the dogs: a big bulldog. The dog was too big for him to control and went where it wanted to go, which was an area off limits. It was a REALLY bad place to go, for the sole reason that it was a minefield. Explosions were inevitable, and Naruto was the only one damaged.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Team 6 was busy with their mission: Babysitting. Babysitting of 6-8 year olds, to be exact. "Aren´t there better missions than this?" asked Sairento while she was supervising a few kids playing.<p>

"I suppose there are, but for better ninjas," Konran answered. "Look at the bright side; this is good training for when you become a mother for your own kids."

"Shut it." Sairento then looked at her other teammate. "At least Torabu´s off worse," she said.

True to word, the cat-boy was busy running from some children that wanted to play with the 'kitty'. They kept pulling his tail and shout into his ears. _Damn brats, _he internally cursed. _If this wasn´t a mission, I´d show them who´s boss._

* * *

><p>Later, the two teams met up and walked down a street. Naruto was being carried by his teammates, while Torabu rubbed his sore tail.<p>

"Look at you. You´re hopeless, Naruto," Sakura scolded.

"You really are just one, big problem," Sasuke mocked.

"My tail will be numb for weeks," Torabu groaned.

Naruto was angered by his rival´s comment. He got free from the two, and prepared to attack Sasuke…

…Only for Sakura to stop him, as Sasuke left the group. "If you keep this up I´ll finish you off, by myself!" she warned.

"Guess we´re not making much progress with the 'teamwork' thing on Team 7, huh?" Kakashi sighed.

"That´s right, our teamwork´s all messed up, and it´s all because of you, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled after his leaving friend. "You think you´re better than anyone else?"

"Not everyone… just you," Sasuke calmly replied while walking. "Face it, I´m better and stronger than you are." He stopped and turned his head to look at his rival. "It´s a fact, unless you have what it takes to prove me wrong."

The two glared daggers at each other, while Sairento thought: _They´re getting along worse than before. This will never end well._

Sasuke then remembered the whole fight against Haku, and the fact that Naruto won against him. _I don´t have time to waste on Naruto and these lame missions, _he thought. _There´re still ninjas out there who can outfight me. I´ve got to hone my skill so I can beat them._

Kakashi looked at the sky, and decided, "Alright, guys, let´s call it a day. You can beat each other to a pulp some other time. Anyway, I have to file my report on this mission."

"Whatever, I´m out of here," Sasuke said and walked off.

"Sasuke, I´ll go with you!" Sakura exclaimed and ran after him. Sasuke stopped to hear what his teammate wanted to say. "So… Why don´t we… I mean, you know… Let´s do something more personal. I mean, to improve our teamwork, and all," she suggested.

"I swear, you´re just as bad as Naruto," he responded. Sakura´s inner self felt like it was being pressed down by a boulder with 'As bad as Naruto' written on it. Sasuke continued, "Instead of flirting, why don´t you practice your Jutsus and make the team stronger? Let´s face it, you´re actually _worse _than Naruto." The fictional boulder got bigger, and the text was replaced with 'Worse than Naruto'. Sasuke then left, leaving Sakura to lament in her uselessness.

"Don´t worry, Sakura," Naruto tried to cheer up. "Forget about him, you and I can develop our teamwork all day."

Sakura was _far_ from enjoying the idea. Kakashi disappeared, making Naruto think it was to give them privacy.

"I do not like where this is going," Konran whispered to his teammates, who nodded in agreement.

A strange, rectangular rock with two small holes then appeared behind Naruto. He noticed the poorly made fake rock shuffle toward him. He then ran up and down the street, the cardboard rock following close behind, no matter how fast its target ran. Naruto then stopped and abruptly turned around to see the fake rock skid to a hold. "That´s the worst disguise ever! There´s no such thing as square rocks!" he said while pointing at the box. "It´s completely obvious!"

"You saw through my camouflage again!" a familiar voice sounded from under the box. "You´re slick, just what I expect from one of my greatest rivals." The box then glowed, catching the five genin´s attention, and multicolored smoke then appeared.

When the smoke cleared, three children emerged, all coughing from the big amount of smoke. It was two boys and a girl. One of the boys had short, brown hair, wore round glasses, a blue jacket, and beige pants. The girl had orange hair tied up with red elastics into two big pigtails, red oval markings on her cheeks, wore a red tank-top over a pink t-shirt, gray pants, and sandals. And the final boy was none other than the Third Hokage´s grandson, Konohamaru, now without his helmet. One thing the three had in common was that they all wore goggles on their foreheads.

The three stopped coughing and looked at Naruto. They then presented themselves. "I´m Moegi, the sassiest ninja in pre-school! Check me out!" the girl said.

"I love algebra! Call me Udon!" the boy said.

"And I´m the number one ninja in the village: Konohamaru! And when we´re all together…" The other two joined in. "We´re the Konohamaru Ninja Squad!"

"Of course it was you, Konohamaru, I knew that," the cat-boy sighed.

Naruto then noticed their goggles. "Hey, I had a pair like those, too."

Konohamaru grinned and fiddled with his goggles. "We remember you wearing one once, so we´re copying you," he said.

The genin were not impressed. "What do you want, Kono?" Torabu asked.

"Are you two busy now?" Moegi asked.

"We have to train, believe it!" Naruto proudly exclaimed.

"What? But you promised you´ll play with us today!" Konohamaru objected.

"Oh, I did?" Naruto didn´t want to hang out with the three youngsters.

"A ninja _playing _ninja? That is _so _twisted," Sakura sighed and went over to Naruto, still peeved over Sasuke´s insult.

Konohamaru then asked, "Hey, Naruto, who is that girl?" An idea then hit him. "I get it. You´re a smooth operator. C´mon, I know that she´s your girlfriend."

Sakura was, to say the least, not amused by the last statement. Naruto didn´t deny it. "Well, you can say she´s crazy about me," he blushed.

"THAT´S IT!" Sakura yelled and punched Naruto hard in the face, sending him crashing through a fence.

As the young children ran to check on their idol, Konohamaru made a _very _bad mistake. "YOU´RE A WITCH! AND YOU´RE UGLY, TOO!" he yelled.

Sakura´s response was knocking the youth hard on the head, making round bumps appear.

"Now I definitely know not to piss off a girl," Torabu sweatdropped.

Sakura then walked away, while Naruto and Konohamaru recovered. "I don´t even think she´s human!" the latter of the two groaned. "Did you see how wide her forehead is?"

While last mistake was very bad, this one was _even worse_. Sakura stopped and shook in absolute, pure rage. She then turned her head, showing a very angry scowl.

"You guys better start running now," Sairento advised.

Naruto and the three kids ran as fast as they could, Sakura chasing them like a mad rhinoceros. Konohamaru ran forward the others, but bumped into something and fell to his butt.

He didn´t ran into something, but _someone_. It was a tall boy with a triangular face-paint design, dressed in a black, baggy, full-body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front, a black hood with cat-like ears, black, fingerless gloves, a person sized object covered in bandages on his back, and his ninja headband on his forehead, the village insignia not the same as Konoha´s. The boy was accompanied by a girl with dark green eyes, blond hair that was gathered into four ponytails, dressed in a single light purple-colored, off-the-shoulders garment that extended down to her mid-thighs, a scarlet sash that was tied around her waist, a fishnet undershirt and pants, a giant fan on her back, and her headband – which was identical to the boy´s – around her neck.

"Do you need something?" the boy asked Konohamaru.

The others, minus the non-present Team 6, stopped the fleeing and chasing to look at the two strangers.

* * *

><p>Kakashi was at a faculty office-like room, delivering his report to Iruka. "Alright, thanks, Kakashi-sensei," the latter thanked. "How´s Naruto and Torabu doing? Are they getting along with the others?"<p>

"Well… little by little," Kakashi said.

"It´s been so busy here." Iruka scratched his nose. "I haven´t seen them since they told me about their adventures in the Land of Waves. I´m a little worried about them."

"You know, Sasuke´s also in our group. Naruto sees him as a rival, which puts a constant strain on the group, but it´s also pushing Naruto to excel himself, so he´s making amazing progress. Someday his skills may be so strong, they´ll match the person he respects the most in the world: You. As for Torabu, he seems to be more and more of a complicated puzzle to figure out, for each passing day."

"You don´t say," Iruka smiled.

"So, we meet again, Kakashi."

The two teachers then turned to face the person that called them out.

* * *

><p>Team 8 – consisting of Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and his dog, Akamaru – were all panting from the training they just did. Supervising them, were their sensei, Kurenai Yuhi. Kurenai was a woman with black, shoulder-length, untamed hair, red eyes, had red lipstick and purple eye shadow, wearing a red blouse with only the right sleeve visible, a strange garment that looked like bandages with a rose thorn pattern covering her body, normal bandages wrapped around her hands and upper thighs, and the Konoha headband on her forehead.<p>

She looked up at the sky with a suspicious look.

* * *

><p>The same did Ino Yamanaka´s, Shikamaru Nara´s and Choji Akimichi´s sensei, Asuma Sarutobi. The man had brown eyes, black, short, spiky hair and beard, wearing a uniform similar to Kakashi´s and Iruka´s but with the sleeves rolled up, a sash with the kanji for 'fire' around his waist, and a pair of black bangles and bandages around his sleeves.<p>

His students were busy eating – and in Choji´s case, gluttonously attacking a bag of chips.

* * *

><p>The foreign boy held Konohamaru by his collar, hurting the boy. "So, does this hurt, punk?" he asked and tightened his grip.<p>

"Put him down, Kankuro, or you know what happens," the girl next to him warned.

"Hey, I´m sorry. The whole thing´s my fault," Sakura apologized. _Who´re they? WHAT´RE they?"_

"You better take your hands off him, right now!" Naruto shouted.

Kankuro looked at the insignia on Naruto´s headband and grinned. _So these are Konoha´s genin? _"We got a few minutes before he gets here, let´s mess with these punks, huh?" he suggested.

Konohamaru squirmed and kick his tormentor. "Let me go, you jerk!" he wheezed.

"You´re feisty, but not for long," Kankuro smirked.

Naruto had enough. "Put! Him! Down!" he yelled and ran towards them.

Kankuro moved his free hand´s fingers, and due to some unknown force, Naruto was sent falling backwards. "You´re a Konoha genin, too? Looks like your village are full of wimps," Kankuro said.

Naruto would have attacked again, but he was restrained by Sakura. "Making threat´s isn´t going to help, Naruto!" she said to him.

"You´re annoying, all of you." Kankuro raised his free hand and fisted it. "I don´t like runts or any other scrawny weaklings. So when a wimp, like this, starts squirming around, I just wanna break them in half." The statement made our heroes more worried for their friend´s safety.

"Fine," the girl sighed. "I´m not involved in any of this."

Kankuro reeled back his fist, preparing to punch his victim. "First, I´ll take care of this squirt, then I´ll waste the other one."

A little stone then collided with Kankuro´s hand, making him let go of Konohamaru due to pain. Everyone looked up at a nearby tree, and saw Sasuke sitting on a branch, holding another rock in his hand. "You´re a long way from your home and way out of your league," he coolly taunted.

The reactions he got from his sudden appearance were different. Sakura squealed in delight, Kankuro and Naruto looked at him in annoyance, and the girl blushed, mentally admitting Sasuke´s attractiveness.

"Oh, great, another wimp to keep me off," Kankuro groaned, as his victim ran back to his friends.

"Get lost," Sasuke responded and crushed the rock with only one hand, gaining looks of admiration from Sakura, Moegi, and Udon.

"How come you´re not cool like that?" Konohamaru asked Naruto.

"I could´ve taken that guy out in two seconds." But in reality, Naruto was angry that Sasuke made him look bad in public, once again.

"Hey, punk, get down here," Kankuro called out. Sasuke didn´t move and Kankuro took off the thing on his back. "You´re the kind of pesky, little snot I hate the most. All attitude and nothing to back it up."

The girl looked afraid. "What? Are you gonna use the Crow for this?" she asked.

Kankuro put the thing down, and a few of the bandages levitated!

"Kankuro… back off!"

Everyone froze and looked at the newcomer. It was a boy with pale skin, short, spiky, brick-red hair, green eyes with the pupils nearly invisible, no eyebrows, black eye rings, and the kanji for 'love' carved on the left side of his forehead. He wore a black full-body suit with t-shirt-like sleeves, ¾-length legs, and an open neck, a white cloth over the left side of his hips and his right shoulder, a wide leather band going over his left shoulder and right side of his hips, which he used to carry a huge gourd on his back, and his headband wrapped over the cloth. He was currently standing upside-down on a branch on the opposite side of the tree Sasuke sat on.

"You´re an embarrassment to our village," he said.

"H-Hey, Gaara," Kankuro greeted nervously.

_How did he get there? He didn´t even make a sound, _Sasuke thought. _Only jonin at Kakashi´s level are that stealthy._

* * *

><p>"I have summoned you for a very important purpose," the Hokage said to his jonin. "Seeing your fellow jonin here, I´m sure you realize what this is about."<p>

"So soon? I thought we had a little more time," Kakashi stated.

"I take it all the other lands have been notified by the coming event?" Asuma assumed while smoking a cigarette. "I noticed some of their genin running around here in the village."

"And? When do we start?" Kurenai asked.

"We will begin in one week," the Hokage answered.

"That´s pretty short notice," Kakashi meant.

"Seven days from today, on the first of July, the genin will be gathered and tested. Only the very best will be selected as chunin."

* * *

><p>dopliss: (looks sick) I know it´s kinda short, but I can´t handle writing more for now. Also, I think it´s a good setup for what´s to come.<p>

Mizuki: You look terrible.

dopliss: (sneezes) I know. I´ve been like this the whole weekend.


	14. Chapter 14 Preparations for the exams

**dopliss: Okay, I promise this chapter won´t be as short as the last one.**

**Mizuki: Let´s hope not. If you let the rest of the coming chapters become so short, this story will take forever to finish.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs not to me.**

**A/n: Remember: If I mess up, leave me a review that states it.**

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><p>Team 6 were walking along a street, having random conversations. "…And then the guy fell into the hole I dug, finishing the prank and ensuring my escape," Torabu finished his story about his greatest prank, 'The Living Snowman'.<p>

Konran whistled. "Impressive. And you did all that, alone?" he asked.

The cat-boy nodded, and said, "Yep. It took a lot of effort, but I did it."

Sairento then changed the subject. "Torabu, what´s with the seal on your back?" she asked.

The troublemaking ninja´s eyes widened and he looked at his female teammate. "So, you know about that, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah, I want some answers, too," Konran agreed.

Torabu looked at the ground. "Do you remember that I said I had an old sensei?" he asked. They both nodded, and he went on, "While I was his student, he engraved the seal on my back. He said something about controlling my powers."

"So, your rampage in your fight with that Takai lady were because of that seal," Sairento assumed.

The cat-boy was confused. "Rampage? What rampage? I don´t remember that," he said. His stomach then growled. "I´ll go get some food. See ya!" And then he dashed off, leaving his teammates confused.

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><p>"Have you forgotten the reason why we´re all here?" the red-haired boy asked Kankuro.<p>

Kankuro placed the wrapped thing back on his back, and apologized, "Y-Yeah, I know, but they challenged us." And then he pointed at Naruto and the young children. "They started the whole thing, really. H-Here´s how it happened—"

"Shut up… or I´ll kill you!" the kid said sternly, yet calmly.

"R-Right. I was totally out of line. I´m sorry, Gaara."

The kid then looked at our heroes. "I´m sorry… for all the trouble he caused," he apologized for his friend´s behavior.

_This guy has an evil look in his eyes, _Sasuke thought about the kid.

_He stopped Kankuro with a pebble. He made it look easy. This guy is one to keep an eye on, _the kid thought. The kid then turned into sand, fell to the ground, materialized back to normal, and turned to face his two associates! "Let´s go. We didn´t come here to play games," he said, and the three of them started walking off.

"Hold on! Hey!" Sakura called out to the foreign ninjas.

The three of them stopped. "What?" the girl asked irritated.

"I can tell from your headbands that you come from the village hidden in the sand," Sakura said. "Of course, the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are allies, but no ninja can enter another village without permission. So state your purpose and it better be good."

The three ninjas turned around to face her. "Really? Have you guys been living under a rock, or what?" the girl asked annoyed. "You don´t know what´s going on, do you?" She then took out her Ninja Registration out and showed it to them. "We have permissions. Of course, you´re correct: we are sand genin. Our home is the Land of Wind and we´re here for the Chunin Exams. Get the picture?"

"The Chunin Exam? What´s that?" Naruto asked. "Well, I´ve never heard of any Chunin Exams, believe it."

"I believe it, alright, but you´re totally clueless," the girl responded.

"Those are the exams any genin have to take in order to become chunin," Konohamaru explained.

Naruto was then very excited. "Why didn´t you say so? I´m so there!" he exclaimed.

The sand ninjas then resumed walking, when Sasuke jumped down from the tree, and said, "Hey, you! Identify yourselves!"

While the other two kept walking, the girl turned around with a smile. "You mean me?" she asked.

"No, him, the guy with the gourd on his back," Sasuke cleared out.

The red-haired kid stopped, turned around, and said, "My name is Gaara of the Desert. I´m curious about you, too. Who are you?"

"I am Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Silence reigned between the two, as they glared at each other. "Hi there! You´re probably dying to know my name, right?" Naruto interrupted.

"I couldn´t care less," Gaara responded. The sand ninjas then leaped away, leaving Sasuke with thoughts about how strong they were.

"Hey, Konohamaru, do I look uncool to you?" a disappointed Naruto asked.

"Well, compared to Sasuke, you´re pretty lame," the young boy responded, making his idol scream in outrage.

Up on a tree branch, three ninjas were spying on the event. "Nothing unusual, but that Uchiha kid and that sand rat is worth keeping an eye on," one of them said.

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><p>"Alright, it is time we choose our candidates for the Chunin Examinations," the Hokage said. "To begin, will those in charge of the young genin please step forward?" Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma stepped forward. "Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, what do you say? Are there any in your teams you would recommend, who are ready for the exam, despite their inexperience? As you know, any genin who has carried out eight or more missions is technically eligible for the examinations. Beyond that, only you can decide if they are ready. Of course, most genin require a longer training period and, at least, twice the amount of missions."<p>

Iruka, who also were in the crowd, thought, _There´s no need to say all this, it´s way too soon for their squads._

"So, Kakashi, you begin," the Hokage said.

"I lead Teams 6 and 7. Torabu Maka, Sairento Josei and Konran Reijingu from Team 6, and Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno from Team 7," Kakashi stated. "I, Kakashi Hatake, recommend all six of these genin for the Chunin Selection Exams." Iruka was shocked over that announcement.

"And my team is number 8," Kurenai started. "Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame. And now I, Kurenai Yuhi, recommend all three."

Then it was Asuma´s turn. "And my team is number 10. Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi. And now I, Asuma Sarutobi, recommend all three," he said.

"Hold on, just a minute!" Iruka protested.

"What is it, Iruka?" the Hokage asked.

"Lord Hokage, with all respect, the twelve names that were just given was all my students at school. I know their skills and abilities. Every one of them has great progress, but it´s too soon. They need more experience before they are tested. If they try now, they are sure to fail the exam."

"When I became a chunin, I was six years younger than Naruto is now," Kakashi protested.

"They´re nothing like you! Are you trying to destroy them?"

"Well, they´re always complaining about not being challenged enough. Maybe wiping out in the exams may teach them a lesson. A little pain is good."

"Wha- What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing fatal, of course, but seriously, Iruka, relax." Iruka gritted his teeth. "Listen, I understand how you feel, it´s very personal for you and it upsets you, but—"

"Alright, Kakashi, back off, you´ve said enough," Kurenai interrupted.

"On the contrary, Kurenai, Iruka needs to hear this," Kakashi objected. "He needs to realize they´re not his students anymore. They´re mine."

"But, these exams could destroy them, you know that!" Iruka yelled.

"Iruka!" the Hokage exclaimed, gaining the complaining man´s attention. "You have made your point, I understand. Accordantly, I have decided that the best thing to do is to hold a special preliminary test."

"Preliminary test…?" Iruka repeated, confused.

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><p>The next morning, two days later, Team 7 was standing on the bridge where they met Kakashi for their missions the previous morning. Team 6 then arrived to join their fellow team.<p>

Anger then erupted in Sakura and Naruto. They absolutely hated that their sensei always were hours late. _First thing in the morning, and they´re already driving me nuts, _thought an irritated Sasuke.

Kakashi then appeared out of nowhere. "Sorry I´m late, I got lost on the path of life," he excused.

"You already used that one!" Torabu fumed.

"I know this is a bit sudden, but I recommended all of you to the Chunin Exams. All six of you," the jonin said to his students. He then pulled out six pieces of paper and gave them to the two teams. "Here´s your application forms."

"Application forms?" Sakura asked.

"You´re repeating me, Sakura, this is all voluntary. If you don´t feel ready, you can wait ´til next year," Kakashi explained.

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto cheered and hugged his sensei. "Kakashi-sensei, you´re the best!"

"Don´t slobber on my vest." Kakashi pushed his student off him. "Whoever wants to try the exam, sign out the application forms and come to room 301 at the school. It is at 3pm, five days from now. That´s it."

Torabu smiled in excitement and looked at the form.

_**Torabu Maka.**_

_**I, Kakashi Hatake, recommend the above named student for participation in the Chunin Examinations.**_

_**Jonin, Kakashi Hatake.**_

"Chunin Exam. I´ll be up against a lot of strong ninjas," Naruto said. _Like the guy with the mummy on his back._ He glared at Sasuke from the corner of his eye. _And, of course, mister attitude._ He then thought about him defeating Kankuro and Sasuke, winning the Chunin Exam, and the Hokage retiring and giving the title to Naruto, admitting he was the better Hokage.

Sasuke just hoped he´d end up fighting Gaara.

Sakura had low hopes. She knew she was the weakest of the six of them.

The two teams then split up and went to do what they wanted to do.

Meanwhile, ninjas from far and wide entered the village, all wanting to participate in the exam.

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><p>The next day, Naruto was peacefully walking around, when he spotted Konohamaru and his two friends. "Hey, Naruto! Wanna play ninja with us?" the Hokage´s grandson asked.<p>

"Sure," Naruto responded. "Since I don´t have any missions today, there´s no problem."

A masked and cloaked ninja with wooden umbrellas then appeared out of nowhere, grabbed Moegi, and jumped up in a tree. "Naruto! Konohamaru! Help!" she screamed.

"Let her go! NOW!" Naruto yelled at the ninja.

The kidnapper laughed and leaped away, Naruto, Konohamaru and Udon chasing him.

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><p>Up on a high place in the village, Sakura sat and lamented over the coming exams. She then heard something and looked down to see her crush. "Sasuke!" she called in joy. "What´s up?"<p>

"Let´s take a walk, just you and me," the boy said.

"No way! You mean it?" Sakura could barely believe it.

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><p>Torabu sat at Ichiraku, waiting to order his lunch. The waiter then came up to him with a bowl of ramen and put it in front of the cat-boy. "Enjoy your meal," he said.<p>

Torabu looked at him in confusion. "I haven´t ordered anything, yet," he stated.

"The meal is from another customer to you."

Torabu picked up the bowl, took the chopsticks, took a few noodles in them, and lifted them up to his face.

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><p>Naruto was the only one of the three that could keep up with the kidnapper. The latter had bound Moegi to the base of a tree, and cackled, "I thought Konoha had strong ninjas, but now I see you´re nothing but a bunch of weaklings."<p>

Naruto then arrived at the scene. "Hey, you! Yeah, you, the fat, old guy, what do you think you´re doing with Moegi?" he asked.

"'What am I doing?' is that your question?" He held a kunai at his victim´s throat. "Do you really want to know? If you move, the brat´s finished!"

"Why are you doing this? let her go!"

"I want the First Hokage´s Scroll of Seals. Bring it to me and I´ll let her go."

"The Scroll of… Seals?"

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><p>Sasuke and Sakura had walked into a foggy area. "Um, Sasuke, how come you suddenly wanna walk with me?" the latter asked.<p>

Sasuke stopped. "´Cause I want to tell you to give up on the Chunin Exams. There´s no way you can pass them, Sakura," he said.

Sakura looked sadly at the ground. "I was afraid of that. You´re right."

"These ninjas are very advanced and don´t have mercy. If you try to fight them, you could lose your life."

Sakura pepped up. "Sasuke, you really care about me!" she almost squealed.

He turned to face her. "I, uh, guess that´s true."

"Ha, ha! Two sweethearts, how touching!"

The voice came from behind Sasuke, and belonged to the very same ninja that kidnapped Moegi. "Get lost, unless you wanna die," Sasuke threatened without turning around.

"Talk is cheap!"

The ninja jumped up in the air and threw shuriken at the boy, who deflected them with a kunai and ran towards his opponent. "Now I´m REALLY mad!" Sasuke yelled.

"Get him, Sasuke!" Sakura cheered.

The ninja jumped again and threw his umbrella at Sasuke, who threw his kunai in return. But when the two collided, the umbrella unleashed many kunai that flew toward Sasuke and hit him! he then lay on the ground, kunai impaling him all over. Sakura, in shock, ran to her crush´s side.

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><p>Torabu sniffed the ramen he held. He then frowned, put the ramen back in the bowl, and threw it at the wall. "What´re you doing?" the waiter yelled.<p>

Torabu turned his head to look at him. "Nice try, but putting poison in my food is a dumb move," he said. "If you wanna kill me, why don´t you fight me instead?"

The waiter then transformed into the same ninja from before, while scowling at the cat-boy. "Fine, let´s go outside so I can kill you," he said.

Torabu stepped outside. "Bring it," he said.

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><p>"Don´t just stand there like a fool, hurry up and get that scroll!" the ninja ordered Naruto.<p>

"Oh, yeah, and what happens if I don´t?" Naruto cockily asked.

"Then I don´t think you care much for this girl!"

"What girl? I only see two dummies: you and the one next to you made of straw!"

The ninja turned and, true enough, Moegi was no longer there. Instead of her was a figure made of straw. "Where´d she go?" the ninja asked.

He looked up to see a clone of Naruto with Moegi by his side. "She´s right here, with the greatest ninja in the world!" it boasted.

"Yeah, that´s you!" Moegi agreed.

The ninja prepared to strike, but three clones of Naruto threw a net over him, and all clones jumped on him. Konohamaru and Udon then showed up and hugged Moegi in relief. "Did you get him, Naruto?" the former of the two boys asked.

"Yeah, I got him right here!" Naruto answered.

But when all looked, the ninja was replaced with a rock. "He used the Replacement Jutsu!" Udon exclaimed.

"Copycat! That´s what I did to him!" Naruto angrily yelled.

The ninja stood behind a tree and looked at them. "I see…" he whispered to himself.

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><p>Sakura kneeled over Sasuke´s wounded body, crying. "He´s finished!" the ninja cackled. "And that´s how you will end up if you take the Chunin Exams!"<p>

Sakura then sat up and showed no sign of having cried. "Ha! I´m no idiot! I saw through that Genjutsu right from the start!" she said and stood up. "Sasuke suddenly inviting me out, then acting like he´s all worried about me? Yeah, right! That was a foolish mistake! You thought I´d fall for that?"

"Are you calling me a fool?"

"I would if you were here, but you´re just an illusion! The real ninja ran away like a coward, so you´re just the illusion of a coward!"

The ninja cackled and reached for another umbrella. "Are you sure I´m not real?" he asked and threw the umbrella at her.

Sakura just walked towards the projectile and went through it. "Yeah, I´m sure," she smirked.

The ninja cackled again. "Just what I expect from a ninja trained by Kakashi, but the Chunin Exam is more than illusions! We´ll see if you can take it!" And then he disappeared.

"You don´t scare me! Bring them on!" she yelled, but she was actually worried about the exams.

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><p>Torabu just stood there, his arms to the side. "Go ahead and kill me!" he goaded his opponent.<p>

The ninja ran toward the cat-boy, and stabbed him with a kunai! The troublemaking ninja then smirked and exploded in flames, searing the ninja! "How do ya like my Exploding Fire Clones?" the real Torabu boasted from the rooftops.

The ninja, still aflame, ran off, leaving a smirking Torabu.

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><p>As for Sasuke, Sairento and Konran, they all fought against the same ninja in physical combat, and won.<p>

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><p>Later, at nightfall, Kakashi sat on a roof, alone. The ninja that had bothered Team 6 and 7 then appeared behind him. "So, how did it go?" Kakashi asked.<p>

"They all made it. Your teams and the others´. All twelve genin proved themselves ready for the exams," the ninja said. He then disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Iruka appeared in his place. "You were right, Kakashi, they´re good. They´ve all developed amazing skills." _But the Chunin Exams can break anyone._

"We´ll see if they can tough it out," Kakashi said.

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><p>At a training field in the forest, three ninjas – two boys and a girl – were training hard. One of them had very thick eyebrows, black, bowl-cut hair, round, black eyes, and wore a green jumpsuit, orange legwarmers, his headband as a belt, and bandages around his hands and wrists. The other boy had long, brown hair, white eyes with a slight tint of grey, wore a khaki shirt, dark-brown shorts, bandages around his right arm, chest, and right leg, and his headband strapped tightly around his forehead. The girl had brown eyes, brown hair held in Chinese-style buns on both sides of her head, her headband worn around her forehead, dressed in a pink, sleeveless blouse, and dark-green pants.<p>

"Did you hear? We´re gonna have rookies in the exams. First year genin. That has not happened in five years," the boy with the eyebrows said.

"No way. I bet it´s just some jonin trying to boost their egos," the girl said.

"No, there´s more to the story than that: Six of them are from Kakashi´s teams."

"Huh? Interesting," the other boy said. "Either way, it´s too bad for them."

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><p>Torabu walked up to his apartment. "Boy, what a day," he yawned.<p>

He walked up to the door, but when he tried to unlock it, it was already unlocked. Tensing up, he snuck in and prepared for the worst.

"Long time no see, Kitty."

Torabu looked up at who spoke, and saw none other than Takai Ondo, his earlier opponent, lying on his bed. "What´re YOU doing here?" he asked.

She got up and shrugged. "Long story short: You got a new roommate," she said.

"Huh?"

"You heard me: I´m living here, now. After just sleeping outside the village for days, I asked your sensei about where you live. And I moved in, just today."

He relaxed, but he didn´t look any less angry. "And you´re also moving out, today," he said.

She went over to him and patted him on the head. "Aw, don´t be like that. Just think of me as your slightly perverted elder sister." She then gave him a letter. "By the way, here´s your mail." Then she went to the bathroom.

He looked at the letter, opened it, and froze as he read it.

_**Torabu.**_

_**Since your Chunin Exam is coming up soon, I´ll come to visit you.**_

_**I hope you haven´t slacken off, you impudent brat!**_

_**Signed: you-know-who.**_

At the end of the letter, there was a sign of a cat's paw imprinted on it. _Oh, shit,_ he thought and let go of the letter. _HE´s coming here?_

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><p>The day of the Chunin Exam, at the school, Team 6 and 7 had entered and saw some commotion at the examination room. Two bullies pushed the kid with the eyebrows down on the floor. "You wanna take the Chunin Exams, but can´t get past us," one of the bullies taunted. "Why don´t you just give up now, before you get hurt?"<p>

"Yeah, I think I hear your mommy calling ya," the other bully mocked.

"Please let us through, we´re supposed to go in there," the Chinese-looking girl pleaded.

The bullies were preventing everyone from entering room 301. "Do you think we´re harsh on you?" one of the bullies asked. "We´re nothing compared to the exams. They´re gonna make this look like a picnic."

"Some of you won´t survive the exam, some of you will be wrecked for life, and some of you may go crazy," the other bully said. "For chunins it´s always life and death."

"You think this is a joke? Chunin are qualified to lead missions. The lives of your teammates are in your hands, so you better be tough enough to take the heat. Little girls like you don´t belong here."

"Real nice speech," Sasuke said. "Now, step aside and let me through. And while you´re at it, reverse the Genjutsu. We can see through your illusion, anyway. We´re going to the third floor."

Anyone except Team 6 and 7 were confused. They _were_ on the third floor.

"So you noticed the Genjutsu, huh?" one of the bullies asked.

"Go ahead and tell them, Sairento," Sasuke said.

"This is the_ second _floor," the mute girl simply stated.

The sign over the door that said the number '301' turned into the number '201'. "So, you saw through the illusion," a bully said and prepared to attack. "But can you deal with THIS?"

The bully and Sasuke almost kicked each other, but the kid with the eyebrows got up, and with remarkably fast speed, he stopped both of the attacking boys by grabbing their legs. After releasing the two, the boy let the bullies walk away.

"Hey, what happened to the plan?" the white-eyed boy asked his teammate. "I thought you were the one who said to keep a low profile and not show our skill level."

"I know, but…" the kid replied and looked at Sakura.

"Never mind, it´s over. Forget it," the girl said and shook her head.

The kid with the eyebrows then walked over to Sakura, and said, "My name is Rock Lee, you are Sakura, right?" He then winked, smiled, and gave her a 'thumbs up'. "Please be my girlfriend. I vow to protect you with my life."

Sakura had an expression of stunned shock. "Definitely… not," she disapproved.

"Why…?" Rock Lee asked in disappointment.

"Because you´re a weirdo," she explained.

"Hey, you," the white-eyed boy asked Sasuke. "What´s your name?"

Naruto was angered in jealousy, once again, because all attention was on Sasuke.

"It´s common courtesy to give your own name before asking for someone else´s," Sasuke replied.

"Hey, you´re a rookie, aren´t you? How old are you?"

"I am not obliged to answer." Sasuke then walked over to his teammates.

"C´mon, guys, we´ve been here for long enough. Let´s go," Torabu stated, and then all ninjas walked off.

The two bullies looked at the ninjas behind a door. "So that´s the bunch of misfits Kakashi kept going on about," one of them affirmed. "Guess they passed their first test and are going for the applications."

The two bullies then transformed into higher ranking ninjas. "It looks like the exams are gonna be fun, this year," the other said.

"Yeah, for us, maybe not for them."

Our heroes then walked up the stairs, all having great expectations for the exams.

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><p>dopliss: Alright! The exams are underway!<p>

Mizuki: But who wrote that letter?

dopliss: Read on to find out!


	15. Chapter 15 Rock Lee vs Sasuke

**dopliss: (merrily) Here´s the next chapter!**

**Mizuki: Why are you that happy?**

**dopliss: My birthday´s coming up!**

**Disclaimer: Who own Naruto? If you answered 'dopliss', then you were wrong.**

**A/n: Remember; leave a review if I mess up.**

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><p>Rock Lee and his teammates looked at the leaving Team 6 and 7, after they had unknowingly passed their first test. "He´s pretty bold. You wanna challenge him?" the Chinese-looking girl asked, referring to Sasuke.<p>

The boy with the white eyes just shrugged and walked on, the girl following him. Rock Lee just stood there. "Lee, what´re you waiting for? We´re supposed to check in," the girl said.

"I will catch up to you in a minute," Lee said and turned around. "I just need to check something." And then he walked off.

"What´s that about?" the girl asked her other teammate.

He just grunted and said, "I have no idea." Then they resumed walking.

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><p>Team 6 and 7 had gotten to a big room, before the hallway to room 301. "This is it, guys," Torabu said. "The Chunin Exams are closing in."<p>

"Hey, you! The one with the attitude! Hold on!"

The two teams turned and saw Lee standing behind them. Sakura was a little shocked to see the boy that hit on her again. "What do you want?" Sasuke asked.

"I want to fight. Right here, and right now," Lee answered.

"You wanna fight me here and now, huh?"

"Yes. My name is Rock Lee. You said it was common courtesy to give one's own name before issuing a challenge, right, Sasuke Uchiha?"

"So you know me?"

Lee got into a fighting stance. "I challenge you!" he said determined. "Everyone is always talking about the Uchiha clan and how great they are. I want to see if this is true. I think that you would be a good test for me. And also…." He looked at Sakura, who shivered at her sudden attention. Lee blushed and said, "Oh, Sakura… I love you!" causing Sakura to scream in horror.

"NO, NO, THIS CAN´T BE REAL! NOOOOO!" she screamed. "Your hairstyle´s horrible, too, and those eyebrows are so bushy! You´re such a weirdo!"

"You are an angel sent from heaven." Lee then winked and shot a pink heart at his crush, which screamed even more and dodged it, making it stick on a wall. "That was a good move, but let´s see you dodge THIS!" Lee then rapidly fired hearts by winking. Seeing the incoming hearts, Sakura screamed even more and did her best to dodge them all, the last heart forcing her to bend backwards and hit her head in order to avoid it.

"I´m glad I´m not in her shoes, right now," Sairento stated.

"What´s with this guy?" the cat-boy asked. "How come he´s head over heels for Sakura?"

"The human emotions are impossible to figure out," Konran replied.

Sakura straightened up, and yelled, "Hey! Keep your creepy, little valentines to yourself! I was dodging for my life, there!"

"You do not have to be so negative, Sakura," Lee said, a little disappointed.

Naruto gritted his teeth. _He wanna fight SASUKE? _he thought. _IT´S ALWAYS SASUKE!_

"You´ve heard of the Uchiha clan, yet you´re challenging me?" Sasuke asked Lee. "You must be even more psycho than you look, if that´s possible." He narrowed his eyes. "You wanna know more about my clan? Then I´ll teach you, the hard way."

"Bring it on," Lee smirked. _Excellent! A match up against the number one rookie. I will draw him out and get him to reveal his technique. And I will prove myself to you, Guy-sensei!_

"HOLD IT!" Naruto yelled. "I get him first! This weirdo is mine! It´ll take me two minutes to have this guy beg at my mercy!"

"No, thank you," Lee disapproved. "Right now, the only one I want to fight… is Uchiha."

"Yeah, well, I got news for you!" Naruto started running towards Lee. "Sasuke can´t compare to me, believe it!"

Lee waited until Naruto was close enough, and when a punch came towards him, he redirected it and swayed his opponent away. Naruto landed on his hands and tried to kick Lee. The boy with bushy eyebrows dodged, and with a sweeping spin-kick, he knocked Naruto off his hands and, literally, made him spin like a record player away from him and into a wall, knocking him out.

_He is better than he looks,_ Konran thought in awe.

Lee straightened up, and said to Naruto, "Just accept it: Your skills are inferior, you have no chance against me." He then looked at Sasuke. "You see, Sasuke? Out of all the Konoha genin, I´m the best. Fight me and I will prove it to you."

Sasuke knew that Lee would be a challenge. After all, he stopped both Sasuke and the disguised ninja before they could kick each other. He smirked and said, "This´ll do fine. Let´s do it."

Sakura was worried when she looked at a nearby clock and saw it was 14:34. "There´s no time, Sasuke," she said. "We got to register by three o'clock, that´s less than half an hour."

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Relax, it will all be over…." He opened them again. "…in five seconds."

Sasuke then ran towards Lee. _Here he comes, _the latter thought. _Forgive me, Guy-sensei. I know it is forbidden, but I may have to break the rules and use…THAT Jutsu._

Sasuke tried to punch Lee, but he was too fast and moved out of the way. "Leaf Hurricane!" Lee yelled and tried to spin-kick Sasuke, who dodged one kick and had to block the next, but it went past his guard and connected with his face, sending him flying back.

_He had his guard up, but Lee went right through it!_ Sakura thought in awe.

Sasuke struggled to get up, and wondered how Lee could hit him. Was it a Ninjutsu or a Genjutsu?

_As I expected, he´s coming back for more, _Lee thought.

Sasuke got up, held his head so his eyes wasn´t visible, and smirked, "I have been waiting to try this out." Sakura and Team 6 understood what he meant when he lifted his head to show his eyes had turned into Sharingan Eyes.

_I only thought Kakashi had a Sharingan, _Torabu thought in amazement.

_So _that _is the Sharingan, _Lee thought.

_You never know what Sasuke will do next. He´s amazing! _Sakura thought. _Like with Kakashi-sensei´s Sharingan, he´ll be able to read this guy´s Jutsu and nail him!_

_Genjutsu or Ninjutsu…. Whatever magic he´s using, I´ll see it now! _Sasuke thought and looked at Lee.

Sasuke then ran toward Lee, intending of beating his opponent…

…And ended up getting kicked in the face by Lee. Everyone was confused, as Sasuke flied through the air and landed. "You see, my technique is not Ninjutsu or Genjutsu," Lee said, ran towards Sasuke, and started trying to kick him.

Naruto awoke and saw the two boys fighting.

Lee delivered an elbow to Sasuke´s stomach, and said, "You get it now? I am using Taijutsu, that means no tricks, Sasuke." He then disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke. "It´s just straight martial arts, nothing more."

Sasuke was angered by this humiliation. "Why you…!" he growled and tried to hit Lee, who jumped back.

"I know your technique. Forget it. It will not work, not on me," Lee said. "I know you can see through your opponent´s Jutsu. That Sharingan gives you the ability to read his chakra and decipher his hand-seals and movements. You can guess what he is going to do, almost before himself. The problem is, Taijutsu is a little bit different."

"Right. So, what´s your point?" Sasuke asked.

"I do not try to hide or disguise my moves. I don´t have to. Even if you CAN read them, you still cannot stop them. You are too slow. Your eyes may be quick enough to stay one step ahead of me, but if your body can´t keep up, what good can it do you? You know what? Here´s what I believe: There are two different kinds of ninjas. Those like you who are born with talent and do not need to work for it." Sasuke, fed up with anger, ran towards Lee, as he finished, "And those like me who have to train every day of our lives." Lee then dodged Sasuke´s punches. "Fact is, your Sharingan is the worst match for my extreme Taijutsu. Here is what I mean!"

Lee then kicked Sasuke in the face again, sending him flying, and then he jumped up and appeared under and behind Sasuke. "Dancing Leaf Shadow…" the latter recognized.

"Good eye. Now, I will prove my point," Lee said. The bandages on his left hand then started unwrapping by themselves. "Hard work beats natural talent. You´re finished!"

A small windmill was then thrown and it hit the unwrapped bandages, sticking them to a wall.

"Alright, that´s enough! Lee!"

The voice came from a huge, red turtle with a ninja headband around its long, scaly neck. Lee changed direction mid air, and went to the turtle, while Sakura ran to catch Sasuke. Naruto and Team 6 were stunned. They never thought someone could beat Sasuke that easily.

Lee knelt down before the turtle, and asked, "You… You were watching us, the whole time?"

"Of course!" the turtle scolded. "That last technique is forbidden, you know that!"

_He´s talking to a turtle… and it´s talking back…?_ Naruto thought in confusion.

"I am sorry. I didn´t mean to," Lee apologized.

_And now, he´s apologizing to a turtle…_ Torabu thought. _Wait a minute, could the turtle be… his sensei?_

The turtle glared at Lee, and the boy apologized in panic, "I was not planning to use the forbidden Jutsu! It´s just… I was in the middle of a fight, and I mean…. You understand…."

Team 6 and Naruto walked over to Sasuke and Sakura, and then they discussed if the turtle really WAS Rock Lee´s sensei.

"You´re a disgrace!" the turtle yelled, causing Lee to wince. "You think you can get away with a bunch of excuses like that? A ninja never reveals his techniques, unless it´s absolutely necessary! It´s such a basic rule, you should know about it, by now!"

"Forgive me, sir!" Lee apologized again.

_How could I lose to that freak? _Sasuke thought and gritted his teeth in anger.

"Are you prepared to take the punishment for your actions?" the turtle asked.

"I…. Yes, sir," Lee said.

"Alright then, please come out… Guy-sensei!"

A puff of smoke then appeared on top of the turtle, and once it cleared; there stood a tall man dressed like Lee and with the same hairstyle and eyebrows. The only differences between him and Lee were the height, age, lack of bandages on the man´s hands, and the open vest the man wore. "HEEEY! What´s shakin´? How´re you doing, everybody? Life treatin´ you good?" the man said.

Team 6 and 7 freaked out when they saw him. "Those are the biggest eyebrows, yet! They´re almost alive!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Hi, Lee," the man greeted and flashed a smile.

"So THAT´S where Lee gets it from," Torabu realized. "Same soup bowl haircut and even bushier eyebrows."

The remark displeased Lee. He turned around, and shouted, "Hey! Do not insult Guy-sensei! He´s one of the greatest men in the entire world!"

"WELL, EXCUSE ME FOR NOT NOTICING HIS GREATNESS! I WAS TOO BUSY WATCHING HIM CRAWL OUT FROM UNDERNEATH THE TURTLE!" the cat-boy returned.

"He did not crawl out!"

"Give it a rest, Lee," Guy shrugged.

Lee turned around and calmly replied, "Yes, sir."

Guy then balled his right hand. "Now for your punishment, you fool!" he grunted and hit Lee hard across his jaw, sending him flying, and shocking our heroes. Guy then walked over to where Lee landed, got down to one knee, and said, "I´m sorry, Lee, but… it´s for your own good."

Lee sat up. "Se-Sensei…."

Tears were then running down both Guy and Lee´s eyes. "Oh, Lee…."

"Oh, Sensei…. I am… so sorry…!"

"Alright… it´s over… you don´t need to say any more…."

Lee then ran to his sensei and hugged him, disgusting Team 6 and 7. _How could I lose to someone that lame?_ Sasuke thought in disgust.

"Actually, it´s kinda sweet to see them get all touchy, and stuff," Naruto said.

"You gotta be kidding, they´re totally crazy!" Sakura objected.

Lee and Guy got up. "You´re just caught in-between. You´re too old to be called a boy, and not yet a man," the latter said.

"You are so good to me… Guy-sensei…" Lee cried.

Guy then pointed at the exit. "Now, take off! I want you to give me a hundred laps around the training field! Show me what you´ve got!" he ordered.

"Yes, sir! No problem!" Lee obeyed.

"Run into the setting sun! Run and suffer… but don´t mess up your hair!" The two of them then started walking.

"Aren´t you two forgetting about the Chunin Exams?" Sairento asked.

Guy turned around and scratched his head. "Oh, right, I forgot about that." He then turned to his student. "Lee, you not only forgot the rule about fighting, but you´ve also disrupted the Chunin Exams. I think that awards a slightly more severe punishment, don´t you?"

"Yes, sir!" Lee said and saluted.

Guy posed and said, "Let´s make it 500 laps, how does that sound?"

"Outstanding, sir!"

"They´re insane…" the mute girl stated.

"What´s with that turtle, anyway?" Naruto asked.

Guy looked at our six heroes. _These must be Kakashi´s students. I´ll check them out,_ he thought.

Sakura noticed Guy looking at her, and screamed, "No! He´s looking at us!"

"Tell me, how is Kakashi-sensei?" Guy asked.

"Do you know him?" Konran asked.

"Do I know Kakashi?" Guy chuckled. "Well, people say… he and I are archrivals for all eternity."

"THERE´S JUST NO WAY!" Sakura and Naruto yelled at the same time.

"How dare you?" Lee shouted back. "If Guy-sensei says it´s true, then–"

"Let it slide, Lee," Guy calmly said to his student. "A ninja´s action always speaks louder than words." He then suddenly disappeared before our heroes´ eyes and reappeared behind them. "My record is 50 wins and 49 losses. Which is one better than his, by the way." He smirked. "The fact is I am stronger than Kakashi. And faster."

_He is even faster than Kakashi! Is he even human? _Sairento thought.

"You see? Guy-sensei is the best there is!" Lee boasted.

Guy then said, "I am sorry for the trouble Lee caused you. Look into my eyes and accept my sincere apology. Also, notice my manly, handsome features."

Sasuke was deep in thought. Could Guy really be better than Kakashi? He had a sense that told him Guy wasn´t making it up.

"Lee, you should accompany these fine, young ninjas to the classroom, right now." Guy then threw a kunai at the windmill and released the bandages. While Lee wrapped his left hand again, Naruto and Torabu noticed some stitches on his hand. "Remember; give it your best, Lee!" Guy said and vanished along with the turtle.

"Hey, Sasuke," Lee said. "I´m sorry, but I have not been totally honest with you. I said I wanted to test my skills, and that´s true, but you were not the one I wanted to test them against. I lied to you when we were fighting, before. I told you I was the best genin here, but there is another top-ninja. My own teammate." Lee was referring to the white-eyed boy. "I came here to defeat HIM, you were just practice. Now, you are a target. I will crush you! There you have it. Consider yourself warned." And then he was off.

"Looks like the Uchiha clan is not as great as people think they are," Naruto mumbled.

"Shut up!" Sasuke grumbled. He hated feeling weak. "Next time, I´ll drive him to his knees!"

"You saw his hand, didn´t you? When he took off his tape?" Torabu asked, reminding his friends of the stitches on Lee´s hand. "I bet old Bushy Brows have been training ´til he dropped, day in and day out. He trains harder than you."

A little silence reigned, before Sasuke balled his fists, and said, "Fine! This is starting to get interesting, the Chunin Exams. Can´t wait to see what´s next." He then faced the exit to the hallway. "Let´s go, all of you!" And with that, they all walked onwards, ready for the exams.

* * *

><p>dopliss: Another short chapter, but here´s an announcement.<p>

Mizuki: Once again, a poll will be set up. It´s also about starting to write a THIRD story along with the first two, or keep focused on the two.

dopliss: I hope that I get an opinion from you guys, this time. It´d be boring if _I _was the one to make the decision.


	16. Chapter 16 Reunion and information

**dopliss: Alright! We´re nearing the first official test of the Chunin Exams!**

**Mizuki: Let´s see how it will go!**

**Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the rightful owner of Naruto. I just own this story.**

**A/n: If any Naruto fans are disappointed, just leave a review.**

* * *

><p>Our heroes had finally reached the door to room 301. All six genin stood and looked at the door in preparation. The only one standing between them was Kakashi. "Glad you came, Sakura. For your sake and your teammates´," he said. "Now, you can all formally register for the Chunin Exams."<p>

"Why? What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"You see, only groups of three are allowed to apply for and take the exams. That´s the way it has always been."

"But, Sensei, you said the decision to take the exams were up to the individual."

"That´s right, I did."

"Was that a lie?"

Kakashi glanced to the left. "Sort of," he said. "It is an individual decision, but it affects all people. I didn´t tell you before because I didn´t want your teammates to pressure you. At the same time, I didn´t want you to feel obliged to participate because of any feelings you might have for each other. I wanted you to come to a decision on your own free will."

"Wait a second. You´re saying that if Sasuke and Naruto showed up, but I didn´t…"

"…It would be the end of the line. If you hadn´t come along, I couldn´t let the others in." Kakashi´s mood became a little cheerier. "But it´s a mood point. You´re all here, and for the right reasons." The genin smirked, while Kakashi closed his eyes, smiled underneath his mask, and said, "Guys… I´m proud of you, I couldn´t ask for better teams." He then walked away from the door, letting his students freely walk through. "Good luck."

As the genin walked to the door, Naruto said, "We won´t let you down, Sensei, believe it!"

"Once we´re done with all this, expect at least one of us to be a chunin," Torabu said.

They opened the door, walked in, and closed it after them, leaving their sensei to smile in pride.

"Whoa…. What´s this?" Naruto asked dumbstruck.

"L-Looks like… we´re not alone here," Sakura stuttered.

She was right. Room 301 was filled with ninjas from all over the world. They all stared at the newcomers, trying to see if they were anyone worthwhile to fight.

"Man… I had no idea there would be so much competition," Sakura whispered. "If being scary is one of the tests, they got me beat." She gulped.

"Sasuke, where´ve you been?"

That voice came from none other than Sakura´s rival, Ino Yamanaka. The blonde girl ran to Sasuke, threw her arms around his neck, blushed, and giggled, "Boy, you have no idea of how much I hoped you would show up here. I´ve missed those good looks of yours."

While Sasuke was annoyed at the flirtatious female, Sakura was angered _a lot. _"Hey, you porker, back off! He´s mine!" she shouted.

Ino moved to Sasuke´s side, and said to Sakura, "Miss Forehead? They let YOU in? You still got those big outlines on your billboard brow, I see."

"Leave my forehead out of it!"

Konran looked at Sairento. "How come you are not crazy about Sasuke?" he asked.

The mute girl looked away. "I want to act like a mature and superb ninja, not like some headless, drooling goofballs like those two," she said.

The cat-boy snickered. "Don´t go saying that, Sai," he said. "Who knows? Maybe someday, there´ll be a guy you´ll be head over heels for."

"Oh, it´s you guys."

That came from Ino´s teammates, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. "I knew this was gonna be a drag, but I never thought it was gonna be this lame," the former of the two said, while the latter was busy eating his chips.

"So all three stooges are here," Naruto mocked.

Shikamaru was offended. "Hey, you know what, you little pipsqueak…?" He then calmed down. "Ah, forget it, you´re a waste of time."

_Shikamaru Nara. Always complaining; never does a thing about it. The laziest kid in school,_ Torabu mentally summed up Shikamaru´s personality. _Choji Akimichi. More like 'Aki_munchi_'. He´d eat his own head, if he could. _That was summing up Choji.

"Sorry, but Sasuke´s all mine," Ino said to Sakura and stuck her tongue at her.

_Ino Yamanaka. That girl is annoying, and not just for her stupid affection. _Torabu just loved mentally poking fun at his earlier classmates.

"Well, well, what do you know?"

Joining our heroes was Team 8: Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka with his dog Akamaru. "It looks like the whole gang´s back together again," Kiba said.

"Oh… hi, Naruto…" Hinata shyly greeted.

Naruto looked at her, causing her to look away with a blush. _Hinata Hyuga. She´s okay, but I don´t know why she always gets shy and embarrassed every time I just look at her. It´s kinda weird, _Naruto thought. _Kiba Inuzuka, and his dog Akamaru. Forget about Ino, this guy´s the most annoying of all. Thinks he´s so cool. _That was summing up Kiba. _Then, there´s Shino Aburame. Well, he´s just weird. Kind of a mystery, but that doesn´t mean he is not annoying, too. _That was summing up the last of the greeting genin.

"You guys too, huh?" Shikamaru asked. "Man, everyone´s here for this stupid thing."

"Yep. Here we all are, the twelve rookies," Kiba grinned. "This is gonna be fun, at least for those good enough to make the cut. Right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke smirked. "Kiba, be careful you don´t get overconfident," he said.

"Just wait, we´re gonna blow you guys away. We have been training like crazy."

"What do you think WE´VE been doing, sitting around picking daisies?" Torabu asked offended, while tensing up from the presence of Akamaru. "You don´t know what training means!"

"Um, don´t mind Kiba. I´m sure he didn´t mean anything about it," Hinata said while poking her index fingers together. She blushed again when Naruto looked at her.

_Akamaru´s looking plumper. Juicier… _Choji thought and moved towards Kiba. But before he could move any close, Shino stepped between them. "What do you want?" Choji asked.

Shino looked down and showed why he stopped Choji: a little beetle crawled on the floor. "Thought you hadn´t seen it," Shino said in his monotone voice. "Didn´t want you stepping on it."

"Why? You´re saving it for lunch?" Choji asked.

"Hey, you guys."

The voice came from someone our heroes and the others had never seen before. It was an old boy – near adult age – with black eyes, grey hair kept in a ponytail, and with circular glasses. He wore a dark-purple shirt, a white undershirt, a white obi around his waist which was worn at an angle, dark-purple pants, blue sandals, a ninja headband around his forehead, his shuriken and kunai holster on his right leg, and dark-purple gloves without fingers.

"You might wanna try keeping it down a little," the boy said. "I mean, no offence, but you´re the twelve rookies, right? Fresh out from the school? I wouldn´t go making a spectacle of yourselves. Just cool it, this isn´t a class fieldtrip."

"Well, who asked you?" Ino asked offended. "Who are you?"

The boy smiled. "I´m Kabuto Yakushi. But really, look around you. You´ve made quite an impression."

Kabuto was right. All of the ninjas in the room glared annoyed at our heroes.

"See those guys?" Kabuto asked, indicating a group of ninjas with umbrellas. "They´re from the rain village. Very touchy. They all are. This exam makes everyone tense, and you don´t wanna rub them the wrong way right now." He then closed his eyes and smirked. "You can´t help it. I mean, how can you know how things work, you´re just rookies?" He looked at our heroes. "You remind me of myself, awhile back."

"'Kabuto'… is that your name?" Sairento asked.

"Yeah."

"This isn´t the first time you´ve taken the exam?"

Kabuto looked slightly embarrassed. "No, it´s… my seventh," he answered, making some of the genin be a little surprised. "Well, they´re held twice a year, so this would be my fourth year."

"Wow, a veteran," Sakura said in awe. "You must be an expert, by now."

"Yes, sort of," Kabuto smiled.

"Cool! You can give us all the inside tips!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah, some expert, he´s never passed," Shikamaru pointed out.

"Well, seventh time´s the charm. That´s what they say," Kabuto nervously said while scratching the back of his head.

"So I guess all those rumors about the exams being though are true. Oh, man! I knew this was gonna be a drag."

"Hang on. Don´t give up hope, yet." Kabuto reached down into his pocket. "Maybe I can help you kids out a little…" He pulled forth a big deck of orange cards. "…with my Ninja Info Cards."

"Ninja what?" Torabu asked.

"It´s hard to explain, but these cards have been chakra encoded with everything I´ve learned over the past four years." Kabuto kneeled down and laid the cards on the floor. "I´ve got more than 200 of them. So you see, I haven´t been completely wasting my time. They might not look like much for the naked eye. In fact…" He turned the top card over, revealing it to be blank. "…they appear blank. Don´t want just anyone to see this stuff." He then placed his index finger at the middle of the blank card and spun the card around.

"What are you doing?" Konran asked.

"You see, I´m using my chakra… to reveal their secrets." Kabuto made a hand-seal. "Like this, for example." Then, the blank card changed to a picture of a map with light-green cylinders in different sizes.

"What is it?" Sairento asked.

"It shows the geographical distribution of all the candidates who have come to take the Chunin Exams, what village they come from and how many from each village. Why do you guys think they all come here to take the exams at the same time?" His question was not answered. "It is the foster friendship between nations, of course. International brotherhood and all that, and it´s true enough, as far as it goes."

"But there´s another reason," Sasuke deduced.

"Yeah, you see, the important thing is that this way they can carefully regulate the total number of ninjas that end up in which village, thereby maintaining the balance of power."

"Oh, yeah, balance of power," Naruto said while being a little confused.

"Big deal, it´s all a drag," Shikamaru complained.

Kabuto made the card go blank again, while saying, "If the balance isn´t maintained, one nation can wind up with more ninjas than its neighbors, and it might be tempted to attack them. So, they try to maintain the status quo. Makes sense… I suppose."

"Do those cards of yours have any info on the candidates? Individually?" Sasuke asked.

"They might," Kabuto grinned. "You have someone special in mind?"

"I might."

Kabuto added the card back into the deck and shuffled them, while saying, "Well, I can´t promise the information is complete or perfect, but I´ve got something on just about anyone... including you guys, of course. So, which one is it? Tell me everything you know about them: a description, where they´re from, whatever. Anything at all."

"He is Gaara of the Desert. And there is Rock Lee of Konoha, while you´re at it."

Kabuto playfully pouted. "Man, that´s no fun. You even know their names. That makes it easy." He held his deck in one hand, quickly drew two cards with the other, and held them with their backsides facing Sasuke. "Here they are."

"Show ´em to me," Sasuke said while narrowing his eyes.

_I don´t have a clue of what´s going on here, but I´ll pretend that I do, _Naruto thought and crossed his arms.

"Okay, first up is Rock Lee." Kabuto laid a card on the floor and the blank side turned into a statistic form with Rock Lee´s picture. "Looks like he´s about a year older than you guys. Ninja experience: 11 C-ranks and 20 D-ranks. His team leader is Guy. In the last twelve months, his Taijutsu has radically improved, but his other skills are pretty shaky. Last year, he got a lot of attention as a genin, but for some reason… he chose not to participate in the Chunin Exams. This will be his first time taking them, same as you guys. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuga."

Hinata winced at the sound of the last name, and Naruto wondered if she and Neji had anything other than the last name in common.

Kabuto then took the other card and made a statistic of Gaara appear. "His experience: 8 C-ranks and… get this, one B-rank as a genin. There´s not a lot more information on this guy. He was a rookie from another land, originally. But there is this: He survived every mission without getting scratched once."

The other genin were shocked. "The dude´s done a B-rank as a genin? And he´s never even been injured?" Shikamaru gasped.

"No way!" the cat-boy said with wide eyes.

Kabuto took another card and made the same map appear again. "Leaf, Grass, Sand, Rain, Waterfall, Sound. From the looks of it, they´ve all sent exceptionally skilled candidates to the exams, this time around. Of course, the hidden sound village is small. It´s shoved up recently, no one knows anything about it. Those guys are a mystery." He put the cards back in the deck and smiled. "Well, you get the point: the competition´s gonna be intense, this year."

"So it would seem," Hinata said nervously. "It is almost enough to make you lose your confidence."

"It´s a fine time to start talking like that!" Ino snapped.

"Do you… really think it´s gonna be tougher this time?" Sakura asked.

"Oh yeah," Kabuto answered. "In the four years I´ve been trying, I´ve never seen a crop of candidates with this much potential as this bunch. Yep, we got our work cut out for us."

* * *

><p>Back on the other side of the entrance to room 301, Kakashi still stood there. He remembered what have been said during the meeting with the Hokage.<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>I can´t let you go along with this, Kakashi!" Iruka said back then. "They may be under your care now, but I know these kids! They were my students, I trained them! I don´t know what you´re trying to prove with this, but…!"<em>

"_You know, maybe you´re right, Kakashi," Guy stepped forward and said. "You´re putting a lot of pressure on them, why so impatient? I held my team back a whole year so they could train and mature. Let them enjoy their youth a little longer."_

_Kakashi scoffed and said, "Your concern is touchy. You sure it´s not because you know your guys don´t stand a chance against my guys?"_

"_Alright, alright, that´s enough," the Hokage said. "The matter of the rookies´ participation is closed. Now… as for the other genin, I´m ready to consider your recommendations."_

"_I know what I´m doing, trust me," Kakashi said to Guy._

* * *

><p><em>I wish I was as sure as I sounded, <em>Kakashi thought. _I wonder how they´re doing. Even the Kages must be a little scared._

* * *

><p>Naruto was shivering in – what the others thought was – fear.<p>

_So, we´re rookies, and we´re up against older, meaner and possibly better ninjas from all over the world, _Sairento thought. _I´m fine about it… a little nervous, but fine. _She then looked at Naruto. _But it must be hard for Naruto. He´s never acted so nervous, as far as I know._

Sakura thought so too, and went over to comfort her teammate. "Hey, don´t worry, Naruto, we´ll be fine," she said.

But then the rookies found out that Naruto wasn´t scared, nervous, or anxious. He roared and pointed at the many ninjas, gaining their attention. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I´m gonna beat every one of ya, BEEELIEVE IT!"

Kakashi could hear his student´s outburst and chuckled.

"Hey! What´s that idiot trying to do, get us killed?" Ino shouted at Sakura, thinking that it was her fault for Naruto´s bragging. "Tell your boyfriend to

Keep his big, fat trap shut!"

"Whose boyfriend?" Sakura yelled in anger at the comment.

"Oh, I forgot, you can´t get one!"

"What´d you say?"

_I should´ve known: Naruto´s too stupid to get scared, _Sairento thought and smacked her masked face.

"I feel a lot better now!" Naruto sighed.

Knowing why he did that, Sasuke, Konran, Torabu and Kabuto smiled. He was just trying to boost his confidence.

The other ninjas just stared in annoyance and anger at the loud boy. Among those were Gaara and his teammates. "That´s the same kid as before, isn´t it?" Kankuro asked.

"He yips just like a little dog," the girl with four ponytails said.

Even Rock Lee´s team was there. "What a jerk," the Chinese-looking girl, Tenten, said.

"Well, he sure hasn´t lost any of his spunk," the white-eyed boy, Neji, said.

"He has passion," Lee said.

"I guess you didn´t intimidate him as much as you thought, huh, Lee?" Neji asked.

Among the crowd were also a mysterious team of ninjas. One was a boy with spiky dark hair and dark eyes. He wore a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for 'death', a hidden sound ninja headband combined with a face guard, and snake patterned pants and a scarf. The other was a girl with black eyes and very long black hair that almost reached the floor tied by a violet ribbon near the end. She wore her headband around her forehead, a pale-green vest similar to those Kakashi and Guy wore, and snake patterned pants and a scarf, like the other boy. The final person was a hunched boy with gauze covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye visible. He wore a long-sleeved poncho, snake patterned pants and a scarf, a straw raincoat which protruded from the back of his scarf, and a big, metallic, holed object around his right forearm.

"You heard what he said about our hidden sound village?" the spiky-haired boy asked, referring to what Kabuto said. "He called us 'little', a 'mystery'."

"I heard," the bandaged boy said in a deep voice.

"I say we teach this guy some manners," the girl said.

"Yeah… time to clear up some of the 'mystery' for him. Update his information. Let him know that… if you insult the Sound ninjas, you better be ready for consequences!"

"Uh, can you say that again a little louder? Didn´t quite catch it," Kiba sarcastically asked Naruto.

"You moron, are you trying to make everyone here hate our guts, or what?" Shikamaru asked annoyed.

While Naruto carelessly laughed, Sakura went up behind him and started strangling him. It was only when she noticed all the ninjas looking at her that she stopped. "Hi, everyone. Don´t mind him," she said. "Sometimes he is saying these stupid things. He don´t really mean them, they just come out. He got this psychological condition, you know, it´s kinda serious. He should be on medication." She then turned her attention back to her loud teammate and started scolding him.

The Sound ninjas quickly dashed through the crowd. Kankuro prepared to use the thing on his back, but Gaara stopped him. The spiky-haired boy jumped up and threw two kunai at Kabuto, who dodged by jumping away to the nearest wall. The bandaged boy appeared in front of Kabuto and took a swing at him with his right arm, but Kabuto dodged again.

Team 7 was marveled by Kabuto´s speed, with Sasuke meaning that he was almost as fast as himself. Kabuto smirked, but then – without anything to touch them – his glasses broke. "Oh, I see, it´s THAT kind of Jutsu," he realized and removed the broken glasses.

"Hang on, I saw that. He dodged the attack, how did he do that?" Sasuke complained.

"It must´ve come closer than it looked," Torabu reasoned. "I´m more impressed that he´s acting like it´s nothing. What a tough guy."

Kabuto then felt something very wrong. He widened his eyes, fell to his knees, bended over, and threw up. The rookie twelve, Lee´s team and Gaara´s team were surprised at that.

"Hey, Kabuto!" Naruto said while helping him up. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah…" Kabuto groggily answered.

"Not such a tough guy after all, I guess," the bandaged boy mocked. "Maybe that´s why he´s on his seventh try."

The spiky-haired boy then followed up with, "Write this on you little card, punk: The genin from the sound village will be chunin when this is over. Guarantee it."

While Naruto and Sakura was angered at the mocking their new friend received, Sasuke, Team 6 and Lee´s team were confused. Kabuto saw the attacks, and he still got hit, but from what?

A puff of smoke then appeared at the back of the room. "Alright, you baby faced degenerates, pipe down and listen up!" a voice said from the smoke.

The smoke cleared, and out stepped many examiner ninjas and a big man with scars on his face, wearing a black long coat and a blue cloth around his head. "It´s time to begin," the big man said. "I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor, and from this moment… your worst enemy."

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><p>Mizuki: Why are you stopping the chapter HERE?<p>

dopliss: (shrugging) I said we´re _nearing _the first test, not that we´re _beginning_ it. Wait for that ´til next time.


	17. Chapter 17 The written test, part 1

**dopliss: (cheerily) ALRIGHT! I have the whole week off, so I´m gonna make a chapter each day.**

**Mizuki: Do you think you can do it?**

**dopliss: I have no idea.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto not mine!**

**A/n: After reading my latest review, I have come to the decision of not pestering you with my insecure statements and questions. From now on, I´m writing whatever I feel like in this story.**

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><p>Everyone in the examination room looked at Ibiki, preparing for anything he would throw at them. Ibiki pointed at our heroes, their friends and the sound ninjas, and said, "First… you candidates from the sound village knock it off! Who told you, you can fight? You wanna be failed before we´ve even begun?"<p>

The bandaged member of the sound ninjas turned around and said, "Sorry… it´s our first time. Guess we were a little jumpy… Sir…."

Ibiki smirked from the praise, before saying, "I´ll say this once, so listen up! There will be no combat between the candidates; no attacking of each other without the permission of your proctor, and even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited! Anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?"

Everybody silently agreed to the claims, but the spiky-haired sound ninja said, "No fatal force? That´s no fun."

The examiners behind Ibiki chuckled sinisterly, while the head proctor said, "Now, if we´re ready, we´ll proceed to the first stage of the Chunin Exams. Hand over your IDs. In return, you´ll each get a number." He held up a piece of paper with the number '1' on it. "The numbers determine where you will sit. We´ll start the written test, once you are seated."

"The what?" Naruto asked with much anxiety in his voice. "Did he say…? 'Written'?" His fears were confirmed when one of the examiners took forth many sheets of paper. "NOOOOO! NOT A WRITTEN TEST! NO WAAAAAAAAY!"

Torabu was slightly worried, too. "This ain´t gonna be good…" he whispered to himself.

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><p>The students were lead to a classroom. After being seated by Ibiki´s system, the students prepared for anything the test could have. Meanwhile, the examiners stood at the sides of the room, each holding a notepad.<p>

Naruto thought in despair. _I can´t see the others anywhere… I´m all alone… This is already a disaster!_

Sakura, who sat two rows behind Naruto, smiled in delight. _Though luck for Naruto, _she thought. _Written exams are definitely not his strong point._

"Um… Naruto…?"

Naruto snapped out of his despair and saw Hinata sat at his right. He smiled and asked, "Where did you come from, Hinata? I didn´t see you."

The blue-haired girl shyly looked away. She looked back at him, smiled, and said, "I… wanted to say… good luck and everything…."

"Thanks." Naruto then thought: _Whoa, that´s weird. I didn´t even notice her. Even when she´s there it´s like she´s not there._

"Everyone, eyes front," Ibiki said while holding a piece of chalk at the blackboard. "There are a few rules you need to be aware of, and I won´t answer any questions, so you better pay attention first time around." He then began writing on the blackboard. "Alright, rule number 1 is this: The written part of the exam on a point reduction system. Contrary to what some of you may be used to, you all begin the test with a perfect score of ten points. One point will get reduced for each answer you get wrong. So if you miss three, your final score will be 7."

_And if I get 10, my final score would be 0,_ Naruto thought gloomily.

"Rule number 2: Teams will pass or fail, based on the total scores of all three members."

Every genin were shocked, and Sakura cursed herself for the ironic fate. "Wait a minute!" she shouted. "You´re saying were all scored… as a team?"

"Silence!" Ibiki yelled. "I have my reasons, so shut up and listen!" He then calmed down and returned to explaining the rules. "Rule number 3: The sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating. And for every incident they spot, they will subtract two points from the culprit´s score." He smirked. "Be careful. Their eyes are extremely sharp. And if they catch you five times, you´ll be dismissed before the tests are even scored. Anyone stupid enough to get caught by the sentinels doesn´t deserve to be here."

"I´ve got my eyes on you guys," one of the sentinels mocked.

"If you wanna be considered ninjas, then show us what exceptional ninjas you can be."

Sakura thought in concern. _Okay, I know I´ll do alright, and Sasuke should be fine. So even if Naruto should get a 0, if we do well enough, we should survive this._

"One more thing," Ibiki said. "If any candidate should get 0 and fail the test… then the entire team fails."

Sasuke and Sakura were both extremely worried, and Naruto was extremely scared. _They´re gonna kill me! _the latter thought, imagining his teammates´ reaction for failing them.

"The final question won´t be given out until 15 minutes before the end of the testing period. You´ll have one hour total."

Sairento looked at the nearby clock, which showed 15:30. _So, the test ends half past four,_ she thought.

"Begin!" Ibiki yelled.

Everyone turned around their facedown papers, took their pencils, and started figuring out the answers, obviously having trouble with it.

_Okay, focus, Sakura, focus, _Sakura thought to psyche herself up. _This is where you show your stuff. _She then looked at Naruto with narrowed eyes. _Just don´t blow it, Naruto, get at least one of them right._

Sasuke was also worried for his teammate, if not for if he should fail them all.

Naruto then got on happy thoughts. _What am I worried about? It´s just a test, I´ve done a lot harder things, believe it! _He looked at the test paper. _All I gotta do is relax and take my time, just read through all the questions, and find the ones I have a chance of answering._ He looked at the first question. _Okay. I see. You got to decipher a code. _He picked up his pencil, before putting it back down. _Okay, forget that one. What´s next?_

Torabu looked at all the questions. He twisted his ears and kept curling and uncurling his tail. _These questions are a lot harder than I thought. _He then picked up his pencil. _I´ll just use the answer I feel is most right._ And then he started filling in answers he hoped were correct.

Sasuke had his own problems. _'Line B in the diagram indicates the trajectory of a shuriken thrown at enemy C by ninja A, seated atop a tree (7 meters tall). Describe and formulate the trajectory required if C was positioned a D, E and F. Also predict the farthest possible range of the shuriken, and explain how you arrived at your answer.'_

Even Sakura had problems. _These are integrated problems based on principles of uncertainty, and require a complex energy analysis. Incredibly advanced stuff. Naruto don´t have a chance in hell on solving all of these. In fact, there can´t be more of a handful of people – besides me – who even understands it._

Konran sat deep in thought, trying his hardest to come up with a solution. He then took his pencil and wrote down his answer. _As long as I take my time to think of the problems individually, I think I should manage. _He then looked around. _I can´t see the others, but I hope they don´t mess up too badly._

Sairento seemed to be looking focused at the problems, but she was gritting her teeth and sweating behind the mask. _These questions hardly make sense to me. _She then shook her head, lifted her mask slightly, wiped her forehead, put the mask fully on, and stared intensely at the sheet. _I do not want to either show weakness, nor do I want to cause the others to fail!_ She then tried her hardest at answering the questions.

Naruto looked at another question, but he decided to skip that one, too.

_Each problem is more difficult than the one before, _Sakura thought.

Sasuke smirked. _Well, that´s interesting. I can´t begin to understand a single one of these problems._

Naruto scratched his head in despair. _Forget it! This is hopeless! What am I gonna do? WHAT AM I GONNA DO?_

Hinata looked at her despair filled friend in pity.

Sakura struggled with the situation. _I need a high score if we´re gonna have a chance. This is so hard. I´m almost tempted to… No, I can´t do that. _She took a quick look at the sentinels. _It´s almost like they´re… trying to get us to cheat. I just hope the others don´t fall for it. _She smiled and looked at Naruto. _No way. Not even Naruto is enough of a dumbbell to try that… right?_

Naruto was on the edge of panicking. _Okay, don´t panic. There´s only one way out: I´ll have to cheat!_ But one random look from Ibiki changed his mind.

The cat-boy scratched his ears. _Boy, answering these questions is like cutting a bald man – not that I´d ever try that, of course._

Sasuke looked at the sentinels. _Strange…. They make more of a fuss about cheating than the test itself. These sentinels… watching our every move… trying to catch one-_ One of the sentinels wrote down on his notepad. _Somebody just got nailed. That´s another thing: Why only a two point deduction? I doesn´t make sense. Ordinarily, when someone is caught cheating even once, that´s rewarded with dismissing immediately. _He then realized something. _So, THAT´S it! Yeah, that´s gotta be it! This is about more than the written exam. The real aim is not to test our knowledge, but our ability to gather information. _Rock Lee, Gaara and Kiba seemed to have figured it out, too. _Yeah, that explains everything. The eagle-eyed sentinels everywhere… the incredibly difficult questions… the fact that only two points are conducted from each incident of cheating. Very clever. A ninja must see through deceptions. They´re not forbidding us for cheating, they are expecting us to. They are daring us to try to cheat without getting caught. Only exceptional ninjas could get away with it under these circumstances and that´s just what they´re looking for. I wonder how many of the others have realized that´s the test is all about. _He looked at Naruto. _Come on, Naruto, you can figure it out! Use your head before it´s too late! Use your head!_

Naruto was in a state of panic.

Sairento had also realized that she had to cheat. _Okay, if the real test is to cheat without getting caught, the next question is to find out who´s got all the answers._

Kankuro saw Gaara do something. _Looks like Gaara´s figured it out. _He then closed his eyes. _Okay, Crow, I´m counting on you._

Akamaru, who sat on top of Kiba´s head, looked around. He then noticed something and gave a whisper-like yip to his owner, who wrote down another answer. "Good boy," Kiba whispered. "Now for number four." The dog gave an agreeing yip and went back to looking for good answers.

The bandaged sound ninja had closed his eyes and was listening to someone near him writing the answers. "Judging from the rhythm, the duration and the frequency of the strokes…" he whispered to himself. "Yes… I see." He then wrote his answer.

A fly sat on a student´s table. It was like it was reading the text. The student shooed the fly away, and the bug flew over to Shino. "Well? Show me," the mysterious boy said. The insect then flied around in a pattern, showing an answer to Shino.

Tenten had a unique way of cheating – by using some mirrors hanging from the ceiling to see the answers of others. _Lee! When you can see it, adjust your headband._

Lee noticed the mirrors and put his headband on his forehead so he could use its reflection to see the mirrors.

Twenty minutes had already passed, and Naruto was nowhere near answering a single one of the problems. He was in a huge dilemma. He could cheat, but he could end up getting caught and disqualifying his entire team. And if he didn´t cheat, he would get zero points and failing his team in another way. No matter how hard he thought about it, he knew he was doomed.

"Naruto…" Hinata whispered, gaining the boy´s attention. "If you want… um… I could show you my test."

Naruto was first confused by Hinata´s generosity, but then he became suspicious as to why. He then remembered that she wouldn´t trick him, but could be forced to offer the chance of cheating. "Hey, Hinata, can I ask you something?" he whispered. "Why do you wanna show me your answers?"

Hinata balled her hands into fists. She had to come up with an excuse. "Well… just because…. Well… you see…." She looked at him. "…it´s just…. It´s because I don´t want you to leave…." She looked nervously away and blushed. "Well… um… it´d be nice if we could all stick together… I mean, the twelve of us... being rookies, and all."

He smiled. "That makes sense. I thought you were gonna pull a fast one on me." Hinata made a stealthy attempt to show him without getting caught, by putting her arm on the sheet and have the answers visible to Naruto.

Naruto slowly leaned in to see the answers, happy that someone would help him, when a kunai zoomed past him and hit the sheet of another student. "What was that all about?" the startled student asked.

"Five strikes and you´re out," one of the sentinels answered. "You just failed the test."

"What? It can´t be!"

The sentinel pointed at the student. "You and your teammates, leave the room immediately."

The frightened student and his two disappointed friends left the room, while the sentinels said, "Candidate number 23: fail! Number 27 and 43: fail!"

More and more students were failed for cheating.

"No! No way!" another failed student roared in outrage. "Who says I cheated five times? Where´s your proof? How can you keep track of all of us? You got the wrong guy! How do you know I wasn´t just-"

A sentinel picked up the student and pressed him against one of the walls. "Sorry, pal," the sentinel said. "We were chosen for this duty because we don´t make mistakes like that. You can´t even blink without us seeing it. We´re the best of the best, and you, my friend, are history." He let go of the student. "Now, get out. Take your teammates with you."

Despite Hinata wanting Naruto to cheat, the boy was paralyzed with fear. He then smiled and said, "Thank you. I appreciate it… but no." His smile then turned from one of appreciation to one of confidence. "I´m an ace ninja, I don´t need to cheat to pass this."

Hinata was startled. "Uh… well, okay, but…" She looked at his sheet with unanswered questions. "…are you sure?"

Naruto gave her a serious look. "Yeah. Besides, if I got caught or anything, I wouldn´t want you getting into trouble."

Hinata blushed a lot upon hearing that. _He cares! _She then snapped out of it and returned to her test. "Yes… you´re right. How stupid of me."

"Forget about it." But Naruto internally cursed himself for letting go of such a big opportunity.

Sakura was just going to answer the test as best as she could.

Neji closed his eyes and focused. _Byakugan! _He opened his eyes, and they had more distinct pupils, along with the veins around his temples bulging! With that technique, he could see through people and solid objects to see the sheets.

_Sharingan! _Sasuke used his family´s bloodline trait to imitate another student´s pencil strokes.

Ino could see Sakura three rows ahead of her. _Look at her, she´s cranking through this thing! _She then smirked. _Okay, Sakura, I see you got a brain behind that oversized forehead of yours. _She then made hand-seals. _Now, I think I´ll put it to work for me. You oughta be flattered, girl. I don´t hit anyone with my Mind Transfer Jutsu._ She then made a different hand-seal and fell unconscious on the desk. Sakura felt something, before losing consciousness.

Shikamaru noticed what Ino did. _So, Ino´s got her Jutsu working, I see. About time._

Choji noticed, too. _Way to go, Ino! Put that brainiac to work for us._

Sakura looked up, but Ino was in control of her. _Thanks, Sakura, for letting me hang out in your soul for a bit, even if it is a little crammed in here. _She then looked at Sakura´s sheet. _Now, I´ve got to memorize these answers quick, so I can pass them on to Choji and Shikamaru._

More and more students were disqualified. _That´s the thirteenth team to be dismissed, _Kabuto noticed.

Ibiki looked at Gaara. _Look at this one – cool as a cucumber. Stays focused as if nothing is happening._ He smirked. _Not bad for a novice._

Gaara looked at his left palm and focused chakra into it. Sand gathered in a sphere, and then a floating eye appeared in his palm! _The opening of the Third Eye… invisibly linked to the optic nerves._ He crushed the eye, turning it back into sand, and let an invisible cloud of sand drift to another student. The student got sand in the eyes, and while he rubbed them, the Third Eye Gaara created reemerged and looked at the answers, informing its creator of the possible results.

"Uh, excuse me," Kankuro said. "I need to use the can. Sorry."

One of the sentinels put the boy into handcuffs with a rope attached to the chain. "I´ll go with you to make sure you´re not up to anything," the sentinel said.

Kankuro smiled goofily. "That´s perfectly understandable." Then they left.

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><p>In the bathroom, Kankuro used the urinal while the sentinel looked away. "Security´s pretty tight around here," the former said. "But these sentinels aren´t quite as eagle-eyed as everyone thinks. After all, they haven´t even noticed there´s one more sentinel than there´re used to be. Right, Crow?"<p>

If one took a look at the sentinel, one could see that his eye and the skin around it had crumbled away, revealing a metallic eye!

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><p>20 minutes left of the test. Naruto knew that he was toast, but then he remembered the tenth question was supposed to be asked in five minutes. If he could answer that one, he had a chance of passing. <em>Everything´s riding on that. Believe it!<em>

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><p>dopliss: Yeah, yeah, short chapter, I know. But hear this: Throughout the autumn break, I´m gonna be productive as hell.<p>

Mizuki: How so?

dopliss: Except for the 22nd, I´ll upload a chapter to both stories each day.

Mizuki: Why not the 22nd?

dopliss: (excited) ´Cause then is my birthday!


	18. Chapter 18 The written test, part 2

**dopliss: Alright, let´s see the end of the written exam!**

**Mizuki: How will it go for our heroes?**

**Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the true owner of Naruto.**

**A/n: Okay, I couldn´t keep my word on updating all week, but I have several reasons. 1: I had internet issues for two days. 2: It would make me desperate to update so often. 3: I need some vacation too, dammit!**

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><p>Ibiki smirked as he looked at the remaining chunin candidates. Most of the genin had failed the test, and he hoped that more would. <em>Now that we´ve weeded out most of the hopeless cases, there´s 15 minutes to go. Time for the main event. <em>His expression then turned into a serious frown. "Alright, listen up! Here´s the tenth and final question!"

Naruto balled his fists in anxious impatience. He had to answer this one correctly, at all costs.

Sairento narrowed her hidden eyes. Having only answered a few of the questions, she hoped that the final one would be more merciful.

To say the least, everyone was tensed up by the announcement of the tenth question.

"But…" Ibiki said, "…before I can give you the question, there are some more rules that you need to be aware of."

The door opened and Kankuro and the disguised puppet of his entered. The former stared in confusion at the students who all had stopped writing.

Ibiki smirked at the sand genin. "Ah, made it just in time," he said. "I hope you found your trip to the bathroom _enlightening_."

Kankuro´s eyes widened in shock at the way the word 'enlightening' was empathized. _He´d seen through the Crow´s disguise! He´s onto us!_

"Well… take your seat," Ibiki said, and Kankuro did as told. But before he reached his seat, he slipped something to his female teammate.

Ibiki then went back to the topic. "These rules are unique to question ten. Listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you."

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><p>In another part of the school – the teachers' lounge, if you will – Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma sat and talked. "It´s quiet without the rookies around," Kakashi said. "I almost miss ´em."<p>

Asuma smiled to his colleague. "Don´t worry, chances are they´ll be back again sooner than you think."

"Why´s that?"

Asuma shook a little ash off his cigarette into a nearby ashtray. "I heard that their first examiner this year is… Ibiki."

Kakashi was a little unnerved by that. _So, already their chances of passing are iffy._ He leaned back in his couch. "Great, sticking them with that sadist right of the bat," he sarcastically said.

Kurenai was confused. "What sadist?"

Asuma chuckled. "I forgot you´re a new jonin, Kurenai, otherwise you wouldn´t have to ask that."

"So I´m ignorant, who is he?"

Kakashi looked at her. "He´s what you might call a 'specialist'," he answered.

"Oh yeah?" she asked. "In what?"

Asuma took a puff from his cigarette, before answering with, "Interrogation. Torture." Kurenai was surprised. "Oh, of course, he wouldn´t use physical torture during the test. He won´t need to. That´s not really his thing, anyway. He works on people´s minds, not their bodies. He´s famous for it. Everyone knows about the head of the ANBU Torture and Interrogation core of Konoha, Ibiki Morino."

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><p>Naruto tensed up, worrying more and more about the tenth question.<p>

"Very well, then," Ibiki said and started telling the rules. "Rule number 1: Each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question. It´s _your_ decision."

_Sounds pretty fishy to me,_ Torabu thought in suspicion.

"Whoa, so what´s the catch?" the female sand genin asked. "Say we don´t decide to do it, what happens then?"

Ibiki gave a nasty smile. "If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine, you´ll get a 0. In other words, you fail. And that means, of course, both of your teammates fail as well." The genins all uttered words about why they ever would choose to give up on the test. "Not so fast, you didn´t let me finish. If you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly, not only will you fail…" He then yelled the last bit to make sure they understood. "…you will be banned for taking the Chunin Exam EVER AGAIN!"

Now Naruto was scared. The odds turned even more against him.

"Hey, that´s bull, man!" Kiba complained. "That´s ridiculous! What kind of bogus rule is that? There´s lots of people here who´s taken the test before!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

Ibiki chuckled evilly, and then he laughed. "I guess you were just… unlucky. I wasn´t making the rules before, but I am now. Of course, if you don´t wanna take it, you don´t have to." Kiba was startled. "If you don´t feel confident, then – by all means – skip it. You can come back and try again next year."

Everyone struggled to think of what to choose. If they quit, they would have to wait a whole year, but if they didn´t, there would be that chance of never ever taking the exam again.

"Now then, if you´re ready," Ibiki began, "the tenth and final question… Those who don´t wanna take it, raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and then you´re free to go."

Everyone was deep in thought over the choice they´ve gotten. They could either fail or risk failing forever.

A student raised his hand. "I´m out. I just can´t do it, I´m sorry." Then he and his teammates left.

And with those three, more followed, not some of our heroes, fortunately. _Like hell I´ll give up! I´m taking the chance and no one can stop me!_ Torabu thought to psyche himself up.

_I refuse to fail. I´m not giving up, _Sairento thought.

_I am sure the others can answer it, I just hope _I_ can,_ Konran hoped.

Sakura hoped that Naruto was going to give up. She knew how important his dream of being Hokage was to him, but he was too stubborn to give up. She made a sad smile. _I can´t let you do it to yourself, Naruto._ She then slowly raised her hand…

…But then she saw Naruto raising his hand, causing her to stop, and inflicting shock in all of his friends who could see him.

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><p>Asuma decided to explain to Kurenai. "You see, this guy, Ibiki, he´s a master of interrogation because he understands how the human mind works. He knows just where to probe to uncover your weaknesses. The thing is, he´s so good at his job that he doesn´t use physical torture. He doesn´t need to. He just messes up your head so bad that you torture yourself."<p>

* * *

><p>Naruto gritted his teeth, slammed his raised hand down on his desk, and shouted, "Don´t underestimate me! I don´t quit and I don´t run! You can act tough all you want, you guys aren´t gonna scare me off! No way! I don´t care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life…" He stood up. "…I´ll still be Hokage someday!" He then sat down and crossed his arms over his chest.<p>

Sasuke was for once impressed at his teammate´s actions and words. _He´s completely clueless, but he´s still going for it… The kid´s got guts, I´ll give him that._

Sakura was also impressed. _Way to go… you crazy fool._

"This decision is one that could change your life," Ibiki goaded, "if for any reason you would rather quit, now´s your last chance."

Naruto smirked. "No way, I never go back on my word. That´s the way of the ninja."

Every genin remaining were encouraged by the young boy´s words. Shikamaru and Rock Lee even smiled at him. Ibiki noticed this. _Hmm… remarkable, _he thought. _That little outburst is giving the others some backbone. He´s inspired them into staying. _He made a quick headcount of the remaining genin. _78 left. More than I expected. But I don´t see anyone wavering… I think that´s it. _He looked at the sentinels, who all gave him a nod.

The cat-boy chuckled to himself. _Naruto… you´re one in a million, _he thought. _I think we´ll both be great ninjas, but you can keep the Hokage stuff, I don´t want that._

Ibiki looked at the students. "Well then, I admire your determination, if nothing else. For those of you left remaining, there´s only one thing left to do. And that´s for me to tell you…" He gave them a warm smile. "…that you´ve all passed the first exam."

The students were stumped beyond belief. Sakura stood up and asked, "Hold on, what just happened? What do you mean 'we passed'? Where´s the tenth question?"

Ibiki chuckled heartily. "There never was one, not a written one, at least. Actually, your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question."

"Wait a second," the female sand ninja interrupted. "So the other nine questions you gave us were just a waste of time, is that what you´re saying?"

"No, no, not at all," Ibiki answered. "Quite the opposite. The first nine questions had an important overriding purpose – to test your ability to gather strategic intelligence under the most adverse of circumstances."

"Oh, well, _that_ clears up everything," the girl sarcastically said.

"Let me explain. You see, my objective was to test you not only as individuals, but as a team and on how well you function as part of that team. That´s why the test was scored on a team basis, so you´d know that everything you did, or failed to do, would directly affect your teammates. I wanted to see how you handled the pressure."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I figured it was something like that, that´s why I kept my cool," he lied.

_Yeah, right! _Sakura thought disbelievingly, while Hinata giggled.

Ibiki continued. "The first nine questions were difficult. In fact, as you may have realized, too difficult for any genin to be expected to solve. I imagined that most of you quickly came to that conclusion – that you´d have to cheat to have any chance of passing. The fact is, the test was designed to encourage cheating, and it almost demanded it. of course, it would have done you little good unless you had someone to cheat from, so I disguised two chunin who already knew the answers and had them sit in with you."

Naruto couldn´t believe it. _The answers were right in front of me the whole time!_ He quickly covered up his shock with a smug smirk. "Ah, come on, I wasn´t fooled for a second. You have to be a complete doofus not to see it." He turned to his right. "Isn´t that right, Hinata?"

Sasuke was disappointed in his friend´s lack of knowledge to the situation.

Ibiki resumed talking. "Those who were caught at it failed. Better not to cheat than to cheat clumsily. Information. It can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather intelligence can determine whether a mission is a failure or success." He removed the blue cloth and revealed a bald head full of scars, which shocked the students. "There´ll be times where you have to risk your life to get it."

"What could he have been through to end up like that?" Konran whispered to himself.

Ibiki covered his scars again and continued. "Of course, you must always consider the source of your information. Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not necessarily accurate. Always bear this in mind – disinformation can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of a comrade, or the loss of a village. That´s why I put you in a position where you had to gather accurate intelligence – cheat – in order to survive. And that´s why those who weren´t good enough at it were weeded out, leaving the rest of you."

"Okaaay, but I´m still not getting what the 'tenth question' thing was all about," the female sand ninja said.

"You´re not?" Ibiki held out his arms. "The tenth question was the main point of the whole exam, surely you see that."

"Please explain to those who don´t," Sairento said while hiding the fact that she didn´t understand it herself.

"As I said before, the goal was not only to test you individually, but as a part of a team. The final question gave you two choices, both difficult. You could choose to play it safe and skip the question, though it meant that both you and your teammates would be failed, or you could try and answer, knowing that if you got it wrong you would lose your chance of ever becoming chunin. It was a no-win situation, but just the sort chunin have to face every day. For example, let me give you a hypothetical mission – to steal a document from an enemy stronghold. You have no idea how many ninja the enemy has, or how heavily armed they are. Furthermore, you have reasons to believe the enemy expects you and you might be walking blindly into a trap. Now, you have the option to take a pass on this insane mission, of saying 'my comrades and I will rather live to fight another day'. Can you choose to avoid danger? No. There will be many missions that would seem almost suicidal if you think about it. But you do _not _think about it, you think only of the goal and achieving it through courage and discipline. These are the qualities required of a chunin team leader. Those who choose the safer of those two paths… those whose determination falters in the face of adversity… those who would put their comrades´ lives in jeopardy by worrying about their own… those who would save their own necks at the price of sacred honor… will never be able to call themselves chunin, at least as long as I´m here. As for the rest of you, you have successfully answered the ten questions I´ve put to you. You have earned the right to continue on to the next step. You have passed through the first gate. I hereby declare this part of the Chunin Selection Exam completed." He smiled at them. "There´s nothing left but to wish you all good luck."

Naruto instantly began cheering loudly.

Then, without warning, something big and black crashed through the nearby window. Someone inside the object threw kunai at the four corners near the teacher´s desk, revealing the object to be a big banner when it folded out. Ibiki mentally sighed. _Jumped the gun, as usual._

The person that put up the banner was a woman in her mid-twenties, with light-brown eyes without pupils, violet hair set up in a slightly spiky ponytail, wearing a tan overcoat, a mesh bodysuit that went from her neck to her thighs, a dark-orange miniskirt, her headband around her forehead, a pendant – that looked like a snake´s fang – bound in a cord and held around her neck, a wristwatch, shin guards, and a dark-blue belt around her waist with an appendage-like sash.

"Heads up, boys and girls, this is no time to be celebrating!" the woman enthusiastically said. "I´ll be your next proctor: Anko Mitarashi. You ready for the second test?" She didn´t wait for an answer, before raising her fist into the air. "Good! Let´s go! Follow me!"

All of the genin just stared at her in confusion. Ibiki stepped out from behind the banner, which had Anko´s name on it. "You´re early… again," he said to her.

On Anko´s face emerged a look of embarrassment and annoyance, the former visible by the fact that she was blushing.

_And I thought the only female version of Naruto was his Sexy-Jutsu form, _Torabu thought while fighting the smirk on his face.

"How many are there?" Anko asked her co-proctor. "Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy. You must be getting soft."

Ibiki smirked at her. "Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates, this year."

Anko smirked at the genin. "They sure don´t look it. Trust me, before I´m done with them, more than half will be eliminated."

"What?" Sakura asked shocked. "More than half? Really?"

Anko smiled to herself. "This is gonna be fun." She then turned serious again. "Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far, but things are gonna be different first thing in the morning. I´ll let your team leaders know where you´re gonna meet me. Dismissed."

* * *

><p>Later in the evening, Ibiki walked around the classroom and collected the tests that were lying around. He then came over to Naruto´s spot and was shocked and surprised when he picked up the sheet. He chuckled to himself. "I just passed a candidate who didn´t answer a single question. 'Naruto Uzumaki'. He´s a funny one, alright."<p>

* * *

><p>The next morning, our heroes and the other genin that passed were at a huge, fenced, forest. All marveled at the sight.<p>

"This is the location for the second phase of the exam," Anko explained. "It´s our 44th battle training zone, but we call it 'the Forest of Death'."

* * *

><p>dopliss: One test down, another arises.<p>

Mizuki: One chapter closer, many more left.

dopliss: One poll up, no one´s voting. (Why?).


	19. Chapter 19 The Forest of Death, part 1

**dopliss: Okay… After two weeks of hiatus, I´m back to upload!**

**Mizuki: Remember where you left off?**

**dopliss: Yep. Let´s get on with the Forest of Death!**

**Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns all about Naruto. …Apart from this story.**

* * *

><p>Takai sat in Torabu´s apartment, looking out of the window. She sighed to herself. <em>Well, Takai, here you are. You´ve been bullied and hated, alone, living with assassins, and now you share a room with a cat-boy. Where in your life did you really love your surroundings?<em>

She put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a locket. She opened it and looked at a picture inside. It was of her, Haku and Zabuza, taken the year before she took revenge on her home village. She sighed again. _Well, you two. Who knew it would come to this? _She smiled. _I hope you´re happy in the afterlife._

She then thought back to something that happened years ago.

* * *

><p><em>In a forest in an unknown land eight years ago, Takai and Haku were sparing together. Zabuza stood by the sidelines and watched, having already finished his training.<em>

_Takai dodged a punch from Haku and sent a strong kick to her sparring partner's stomach, sending him a little back and falling onto his butt. She gasped and went over to him. "Are you alright?" she worriedly asked._

_Haku groaned and rubbed his stomach. "Yeah, I´m fine," he responded._

"_Takai," Zabuza said to gain her attention, "what you just did was wrong."_

_Takai looked at her older friend. "What? Wrong? What do ya mean?"_

_The assassin closed his eyes. "Whenever you´re fighting an opponent, even if it is your friend, you must _never _see to his or hers safety."_

"_Why? What´s wrong with that?" the girl asked confused._

_Zabuza looked at her. "If one of your friends happened to betray you and you were fighting him, being careful of not hurting him or her could cost you your life." Takai gasped as she heard this. "If you happened to hurt your opponent and he seemed to be in much pain, if you go over to him and checked his wounds, what would stop him from killing you while you were off guard?"_

_Takai looked at the ground. "But, you two would never kill me…"_

"_You´re right, but someone else you could befriend would." Zabuza looked at both her and Haku. "Let this be a lesson to you two: When your opponent is down or in pain, it is best to kill him right then and there."_

_Haku stood up and nodded. "I understand."_

_Takai also nodded. "Me too."_

_Zabuza closed his eyes and walked off to their camp, leaving with the message, "Training is over for today."_

_Takai looked at Haku. "Do you think _that _is something that could happen?" she asked._

_Haku shrugged. "It´s possible, but you never know." Then both of them walked over to camp._

* * *

><p>Takai smiled at the memory. <em>It never happened, but yet you still died. We should´ve worked for someone else than that scumbag.<em>

She then looked around the apartment, until her eyes were locked onto a picture. It was of a blonde woman with blue eyes and a red-haired man with black eyes. Both of them were smiling. The fiery female could not help but wonder over the picture. "Who´re those two?" she asked herself, not expecting an answer.

* * *

><p>Every genin stared at the fenced forest, wondering what the second part of the exam had to do with it. "This whole place just totally creeps me out," Sakura said to no one.<p>

Anko smirked. "It should, since it´s called the 'Forest of Death'," she said. "And soon enough, you´re gonna find out why."

Naruto snorted, put his hands on his hips, wiggled with his butt, and mocked, "'They call it the 'Forest of Death'. And soon enough, you´re gonna find out why,'" using a bad attempt at a woman´s voice. He then said seriously, "Do your worst, you´re not gonna scare me away! I can handle anything!"

Anko closed her eyes and smiled. "So… looks like we got ourselves a tough guy." She then managed to – in a blink of an eye – to get a kunai out from her sleeve, throw it so it managed to cut Naruto´s left cheek and land behind some grass ninjas, and quickly disappear and reappear behind Naruto. "You tough enough to handle this?" she whispered. "You´re not afraid, are you?" Naruto was stunned in shock as Anko laid her hands on his cheeks, and the blood oozed from the cut. "Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest."

She let some of the blood on her fingers, but then she sensed someone behind her. She prepared another kunai and turned around-

-only for one of the grass ninjas to deliver the kunai she threw back to Anko. The weird part about that was that the ninja held the kunai with her _tongue_, which was long and sepent-like!

The ninja looked like a woman with waist-length hair, dressed in a black polo neck shirt, a grey garb over the shirt, black pants, earrings, a straw-hat, and a thick, purple rope worn like a belt and tied in a big knot on her back. "I was… just returning your kunai," the woman said in an eerie voice.

"Why, thank you, grass ninja," Anko thanked with a smile. A tense moment went by where they just stared at each other. "You know, I really recommend you stay this close behind me… if you wish to reach a premature end." Anko took back her kunai.

The grass ninja pulled her tongue back into her mouth. "My pardon," she said. "With the sight of blood in your blade slicing through my hair, I´m afraid that I just became a little excited. I meant you no harm."

Torabu stared at the grass ninja. _There´s something very weird about that woman, _he thought. _I can´t put my finger on it, but something´s afoot._

Sakura was also creeped out. _I thought this forest was creepy, but these guys are even creepier,_ she thought as the grass ninja passed her.

Naruto covered his cut with his left hand and looked at the grass ninja. _Hey… I wonder if I can do that with my tongue._ He then stuck his tongue out, seeing if he could make it prehensile, but to no use.

"Seems like everyone here´s quick-tempered," Anko wondered aloud. "It must be something in the air." She chuckled. "This is gonna be fun."

Naruto glared at her. _Quick-tempered? Geez! _You´re _the one that threw the kunai at me!_

Anko walked back to the fence. "Now, before we begin this test, I have something to give to you all." She turned around and pulled out papers from her coat. "It´s just a standard consent form." Everyone stared at the forms. "Before the test, all of you are going to read over this form and then sign it."

"What for?" Konran asked.

"Some of you may not come back from this test, and I have to get your consent at that risk. Otherwise it would be my responsibility." She then laughed. Everyone tensed up at the fact that they could die during this test, as Anko continued, "Now, I´ll explain what you´ll be doing in this test." She gave the forms to Naruto. "Here, pass these out." She then resumed explaining. "The first thing you need to know is that this test will take every one of your survival skills."

_Survival… What a drag,_ Shikamaru thought and passed on the forms with a yawn.

Anko folded out a map of the forest and went on, "First, I´ll give you all a description of the terrain of the practice field. The 44th battle training zone has 44 locked entrance gates. There are rivers and a forest inside. In the center is a locked tower, located ten kilometers from each gate. It´s in this confined area that you´ll undergo the survival test. The test consists of…" She folded the map together and put it back into her coat. "…an anything goes battle, to get your hands on these scrolls." She showed the genin two scrolls, a black one and a white one.

"Both of them?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes, you´ll be fighting to get both – a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll. Altogether, 26 teams will be taking part in this test, so half of the teams would be going after the Heaven scroll, and the other half will be trying to get the Earth scroll. I´ll hand over one kind of scroll to each team, and that´s what you´ll be vying for."

"Okay," Sasuke said, "so how do we pass the test?"

"Your entire team must bring both a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll to the tower."

"That means that half the teams will fail," Sakura realized.

"More so if not every team gets both scrolls," Sairento stated.

"No one ever said it would be easy," Anko shrugged. "Oh, and one more thing: The test has a time limit. You must finish it within five days."

"Five days out there?" Ino asked shocked.

"What´re we supposed to eat?" Choji asked even more shocked.

"Just look around," Anko calmly answered. "The forest is full of things to eat, there´s plenty to feed all of you."

"Yeah, but," Kabuto started, "that´s not all the forest has plenty of. There are man-eating beasts and poisonous plants in there."

"Oh, man!" Choji groaned.

"Quiet," Ino scolded her teammate. "This is what they call survival, you know."

"That means… with these circumstances, there´s no way half the teams would pass the test," Neji stated.

"With the days getting longer, the nights are getting shorter," Rock Lee said, "so we will have less time to sleep and less time to recover." He smirked. "It is a challenge, indeed!"

Completely surrounded by enemies," Sasuke said, "there won´t be time to rest, we´ll have to keep a constant watch."

"Right," Anko confirmed. "This test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test, and I´m sure that some of you won´t be up to the challenge."

Shikamaru held his hand up. "So, um, let´s say mid-exam… can we quit?" he asked.

"Of course not. In the middle of a battle, you can´t say 'sorry, I quit'." Anko chuckled. "Well, I guess you can, but it´s probably gonna get you killed."

"Oh, just great," Shikamaru sighed. "This is gonna be a drag."

Anko continued. "There are also ways to get you disqualified. The first is simple: If all three members of a team can´t get to the tower with both scrolls after five days. Number two: If a team loses a member or a member is incapacitated and cannot continue. But most important: None of you – absolutely NONE of you – is allowed to read the scrolls before reaching the tower."

"What would happen if they accidentally were opened and read?" Torabu asked.

Anko smiled. "Let me put it this way, young man: You. Don´t. Want. To. Know." She then went on. "There are times where ninja are asked to bring secret documents. The scroll rules are to test your integrity." She then finished with, "Okay, we´re done. Each team, take your consent forms and place them over there for your scroll." And here she pointed to a stand with jonins inside. "After that, each team picks a gate and you´ll be led inside." Anko sighed. "One final word of advice: JUST DON´T DIE!"

* * *

><p>Later, the genin teams were all individually signing their forms. Sasuke sat near a big rock and looked at the stand. The jonin covered the stand with a red curtain. <em>I see how it is, <em>he figured. _We won´t know which team has which scroll and we won´t know which team member caries the scroll. Stealing information is really a matter of life and death. It´s just like Ibiki said._ He then went back to his form.

Sairento looked at all the students. _Everyone is equally determined to pass. Let´s hope my teammates are the same._

Anko looked at Sasuke. _Hmm, looks like he´s starting to figure it out._

Sakura walked around while reading her form.

"Well, well, well, if it isn´t the little future failure."

Sakura looked up from her form and saw Ino, Shikamaru and Choji in front of her. "What´s up, Billboard Brow?" the former mocked. "I thought you would´ve washed out of the program by now. Your big forehead alone should´ve gotten you tossed."

Sakura smirked and delivered a comeback. "So sad. You´re just jealous because that I get to spend five days with Sasuke, and it´s clearly turning you into something very petty and ugly. And you´re already ugly!"

Before anything else could be said, Ino and Sakura glared daggers and insulted each other, which caused Shikamaru and Choji to tremble in fear.

"ENOUGH!" Ino shrieked. "Give it up, Sakura! You and I both know you´re too weak to pass this test!"

"Yeah, right!" Sakura retorted. "You´re the one that´s going down!"

The two girls glared and growled at each other before turning and leaving in their own directions, leaving behind two still shocked boys. "I´m glad they didn´t turn on us," Choji said. "Why are they like that to each other?"

Shikamaru looked to the side. "Who cares? I don´t have time to care about that stuff."

Naruto walked a big distance away from the others while reading his form. He looked up and saw Hinata stand by a tree, reading her own form. "What´re you doing all the way out here?" he asked her.

She jumped up in surprise upon hearing his voice. "Oh… Naruto… I…" She blushed and looked away. "I just… Nothing…"

_That´s Hinata for you: Weird as always, _Naruto thought.

Hinata looked at Naruto again. "Oh… Your cut…" She laid her form down on the ground and searched her pockets. "Here…"

"Well, anyway, see you later," Naruto said and walked away, just seconds before Hinata could give him a small, brown, sealed cup.

_I guess I´ll just… keep it for later, then, _Hinata thought in disappointment.

Naruto walked on and eventually stumbled upon Torabu. "Hey there," Naruto greeted his friend.

The cat-boy looked up from his form and smiled. "How long has it been since we last went up against each other?" he asked.

"Since the test to become genin," Naruto answered.

Torabu sighed in remembrance. "Yeah, ever since then, we´ve been allies on missions." He then remembered their fight to become accepted by Kakashi.

"Hey, would you really have given up the bell to let me pass?"

The troublemaking ninja chuckled. "You would do the same."

"Yeah, believe it!"

The two boys walked up to each other. "Let´s make a promise, Naruto," Torabu started, "let´s promise that, no matter what, we´ll both get through this forest and make it to the tower." He balled his fists. "No way some flowers are gonna keep us from becoming chunins!"

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah!" Both boys raised their fists. "Before you know it…" They bumped their fists together ('brofisting', if you will). "…we´ll both be great chunins, believe it!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile hundreds of kilometers away, on an open field, a man lived in his house by himself. He lived as a farmer and was picking up crops.<p>

A shadow then loomed over him. "Excuse me," the person behind him said, "do you know the way to Konoha, the hidden leaf village?"

The farmer did not look at the stranger. He just said, "Just walk east. You should be there within four days."

"Thanks a lot, young man."

The farmer turned around. "You´re welco- AAAARGH!" The farmer was shocked.

"Does my appearance frighten you?" the stranger asked.

"You… You… You´re…" the farmer tried to make a sentence.

"I´ll be leaving. Again, thanks." The stranger then left. _Torabu… just you wait._

* * *

><p>Back to the Forest of Death, one of the jonins poked his head out of the curtain. "Alright, everyone," he called, "we´re gonna start handing out scrolls." He then retreated back behind the curtain.<p>

_I wonder if any of them will survive this, _Anko thought with a smile.

The teams entered one at the time and exited with a scroll hidden on them. Team 7 entered and delivered their forms, and got a Heaven scroll in return. Naruto decided to be the one to bear it. _We are SO gonna win this!_

Anko checked her wristwatch. It was 14:00. She then said, "Listen up! All the teams have gotten a scroll, so, everybody, go to your gate and wait there! When the gates open, the test is on!"

Team 8 was positioned at gate 16, waiting for it to open. "YAHOOO!" Kiba cheered. "We rock at survival, there´s no way we can lose!" He then looked at his female teammate. "Hinata, you better be strong for this."

"…Right…" Hinata mumbled.

As per usual, Shino was silent.

At gate 27, there stood Team 10. "The test may cost us our lives, what a drag," Shikamaru said. "But since we have to do it, let´s go after Naruto first."

Choji checked all of his 'supplies' in his bag. "Potato chips… check. Chocolate layer cake… good."

Positioned at gate 12 was Team 7. Naruto punched the air and said things to psyche himself up. "Believe it! I dare ya! Bring it on, ninja! I´ll just send it right back, twice as hard!"

Sakura said nothing, but her inner self agreed. "Cha! That´s right!"

The sound ninjas were at gate 20. The bandaged one chuckled. "The time has come to carry out our orders out in the open."

Kabuto and his two teammates were at gate 38. All were silent.

At gate six were the sand ninjas. _Not only do I have to deal with the punks on the other teams, I´ll be with Gaara, and he might try to kill me, _Kankuro thought.

At gate 15 were the grass ninja from earlier, along with her two oddly-formed teammates. "We´ll target the rookies, they´re easy prey," one of them said.

"We´ll get that scroll from them in no time," the grass ninja said. "Anything goes, right?"

Lee´s team was at gate 41. Lee´s eyes were on fire with ambition. _Guy-sensei, I will make you proud! Just watch! Soon, everyone will know the name 'Rock Lee'!_

His teammates were silent.

At gate 2 were Torabu, Sairento and Konran. "Make sure to keep focus, you two," the mute girl said.

The time was now 14:28. The jonin unlocked the gates, but did not let anyone in.

Two minutes later, Anko yelled, "Alright! Listen up, you maggots! The second part of the test has begun!" And then the gates were opened.

Every team dashed into the forest. The hunt for the other scrolls has begun.

* * *

><p>Team 8 stopped at one point in the forest. "Alright," Kiba started, "first thing we gotta do is to find it. Are you ready, Hinata?"<p>

Hinata nodded, made a hand-seal, and then, "Byakugan!"

* * *

><p>Rock Lee´s team was jumping from tree branch to tree branch, but Lee leaped faster than the others. "Take it easy, Lee," Neji advised, "the test´s only just begun."<p>

"That may be, but still," Lee responded, "whoever our enemies are; I want to find them before they find us."

"You hotheaded fool."

* * *

><p>The sound ninjas also leaped through the trees, but they had a different goal in mind. "There´s only one target, stay focused on him," the bandaged one said.<p>

* * *

><p>Team 10 took a different approach. They slowly and carefully walked through the forest, keeping their eyes open in case of enemies.<p>

"Ah! What´re you doing?" Ino asked Choji. The boy was in the middle of opening his bag of chips.

"Just having a snack," Choji answered. "I mean, I´ve gotta keep my strength up, don´t I?" He then started eating.

"We haven´t even been out here for five minutes," Ino complained.

"Yeah, c´mon, Choji," Shikamaru said. "We have a job to do here."

Choji just said, "I can´t help it, I gotta eat. They´re my favorite flavor."

Ino was starting to get annoyed. "You and your snacks. This is a survival test, you know, you should´ve packed more kunai and less candy."

Shikamaru then sensed something. "You guys, hide. Quick!" he whispered. Team 10 took cover in some nearby bushes and did their best to be quiet.

Five seconds later, a team of ninjas landed where Team 10 stood and looked around. Shikamaru looked at the ground and froze. There were a few chips on the ground, which could end up revealing them. Fortunately, the ninjas did not see them and left the area.

Team 10 sighed in relief. _Oh, man. I have to go through five days with this? What a drag, _Shikamaru thought.

* * *

><p>Team 6 had gathered at one point. "I suggest that we split up, in order to cover more ground," Konran proposed.<p>

"What if one of us spots a team with the scroll we need?" Torabu asked.

Konran reached into his pockets and pulled out three earphones. "With these things, we can communicate with each other."

"Good thinking, Konran," Sairento praised.

"The same can probably apply if you´re in trouble, Sai," Torabu said as he placed an earphone in his cat ear.

Sairento placed her hand on the Heaven scroll in her pocket. "Just remember, we´re looking for an Earth scroll."

The three turned on their devices and leaped off in different directions.

* * *

><p>A team of ninjas landed on a tree branch and looked down upon Team 8. "So if the tower is where everyone will be heading in the end, I say we lay a trap there and get the scroll from whoever we catch," Kiba said. Akamaru then growled and sniffed. "Well, well, we got company."<p>

"Ha, what fools," one of the ninjas said. "Standing out in the open like they want to get caught."

"Well, it seems that they´ve sensed our presence," another said. "But they´re all such lame ninja, they can´t even pinpoint our location."

The first of the ninja then felt something strange. The one of them that has not spoken noticed this. "Hey, what´s wrong?" He then saw something move under his friend´s shirt, near the neck. "What´s under your shirt?"

The thing crawled out of the shirt, revealing itself as a huge leech! "Ew! What is that thing?" one of them panicked.

Then, without warning, several more leeches of that size fell from the trees and upon the ninjas!

"Well, looks like the leeches found them," Kiba affirmed. "They sense body temperature and perspiration, and when in a group, they swoop down on their prey. If they suck your blood for five minutes, it´s all over." The ninjas fell down and lay on the ground, weakened by the leeches. "These predators are smart. We have taken advantage of their instincts to trap our enemies."

One of the ninjas managed to get up on his feet. "Get of me…!" He then noticed a line, and before he could react, he and his team were trapped in a net hanging from a tree.

"There´s one team down," Kiba smirked as the trapped ninjas screamed.

* * *

><p>Outside of the forest, Anko could hear the screams. She smirked and said, "Sounds like the fun has begun."<p>

* * *

><p>Team 7 also heard the scream. They were unnerved, but nothing more. "I don´t like this place," Sakura said.<p>

Naruto was relaxed and folded his arms behind his head. "Oh, c´mon, it´s not that bad. It´s nothing to be scared of, it´s gonna be a piece of cake." He then felt the need to release the yellow stream and walked over to a nearby tree. "Excuse me. I gotta… you know." He then unzipped the lower part of his jumpsuit.

Sakura would have none of that, however. "Yeah, right!" she yelled and smacked Naruto on the head. "Get outta here! What is this, a kennel? Not in front of me, you don´t! Find yourself a bush or something!"

* * *

><p>Torabu snuck along the ground, looking for anything that could mean trouble. He then spotted a group of male ninjas. "Where do you suppose we should go look for someone?" one of them asked.<p>

"I dunno," another answered. "They could be anywhere."

A bush behind the third one of them rustled and managed to startle them. They calmed down when they realized nothing was wrong. "C´mon, let´s not get scared by nothing; we have to find someone with a Heaven scroll."

Torabu´s eyes widened upon hearing that. He reached up to touch his earphone, but then decided against it. _Time for some fun, _he smirked and made a hand-seal. _How´re they gonna take _this?

* * *

><p>Naruto returned to his teammates. "Man, that was a lot!" he said. "I wrote my whole name!"<p>

Sakura raised her fist, threatening to hit him again. "You are such a pig! You are really disgusting sometimes, you know that?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and punched Naruto into a tree. "Sasuke, it wasn´t _that_ bad," Sakura said. "Don´t you think you´re going a little overboard?"

Sasuke did not listen and kicked Naruto over to another spot. Naruto stood up. "I think he´s gone crazy, Sakura," he said.

"Yeah, you wish," Sasuke replied. "I just struck before you could!" He then pulled out a kunai.

Naruto took his own kunai in his left hand and the two boys entered a kunai fight. After a few seconds of clashing weapons, Sasuke managed to push his friend away.

"Sasuke, what´re you doing?" Sakura asked in shock.

"Take a good look at him," was Sasuke´s reply. Then he asked Naruto, "Talk! What have you done to Naruto?"

"What do you mean? I AM Naruto!" Naruto defended.

"Then where´s the cut on your cheek?" Sasuke was right – Naruto´s cut was gone. "I guess you didn´t know that Naruto got a cut on his cheek before this test! You also have your shuriken holster on your left leg, while Naruto is right-handed!" He was right again. "Your transformation skills are worse than Naruto´s! Tell me who you are!"

The fake naruto smirked and transformed into his real form. There now stood a ninja with spiky black hair, dark eyes, a pair of sandals, a yellow jumpsuit that was stitched along the middle, his headband around the upper part of his head, a breathing device over his mouth, and a white sash around his eyes with holes them.

"Alright, you got me, so what?" the ninja said. "I´m still gonna take your scroll, so hand it over or else!" Sakura also took a kunai and prepared to fight. "So, which one of you have it?" The genin refused to answer. "Hmph! Fine, then. I´ll just have to take care of you both!"

The ninja then ran towards our two heroes. How will it go for our heroes?"

* * *

><p>dopliss: …And how long will it take me to go through the Forest of Death part? We´ll find out later!<p>

Mizuki: Dude, your fridge is empty.

(dopliss glares at Mizuki)

Mizuki: It wasn´t me, it was Kirby.

dopliss: (sighing) That thing always enters this place. Go buy some more food.


	20. Chapter 20 The Forest of Death, part 2

**(dopliss watches as Mizuki fills the fridge)**

**dopliss: For doing this, you´re allowed to get-**

**Mizuki: (exited) What?**

**dopliss: -one snickers bar.**

**Mizuki: You´re such a jerk.**

**Disclaimer: I guess I´ll be stuck saying that I don´t own Naruto for years.**

* * *

><p>The Naruto impersonator ran towards the remaining members of Team 7, but Sasuke jumped up and made hand-seals. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled and blew several small fireballs to hit the enemy ninja. The ninja just evaded the impacts from the fireballs and leaped at the airborne Sasuke. They clashed kunai before landing at separate spots. The ninja leaped from branch to branch, and Sasuke followed.<p>

"Hey, get me outta here!"

Sasuke looked down and saw the real Naruto, bound and struggling to get free, on the ground. _Tch. Little idiot, _he thought and threw a kunai that cut some of the ropes binding his friend in need.

"Thank you!" Naruto thanked.

"Better keep your mind on the game!" the enemy ninja grunted and threw many knives at Sasuke, who dodged behind a thick branch.

Sasuke emerged from behind his cover, but then he saw a kunai among the knives and was shocked when he saw a paper slip bound to the kunai. "A paper bomb!" he realized as the paper went ablaze and exploded, catching Sasuke in the blast!

Sasuke fell down and landed on his hands and feet. The enemy ninja then appeared behind the boy, kunai at the ready, and said, "Sorry. This is one test you fail. Now, hand over that scroll, or you die!"

Sakura caught up to the fight and saw her crush in danger. "Sasuke!" she screeched.

Sasuke just smirked as a kunai flew at the enemy, who jumped away to dodge. Naruto appeared and looked angrily at the ninja. "Oh, no, you don´t!" he said.

_Well, well. Better late than never, I guess, _Sasuke thought. He then stepped on the kunai Naruto threw at the ninja, used his chakra control to make it stick to his sole, made a spin-kick to throw the kunai with more power, and jumped after the ninja.

The ninja saw the incoming kunai and dodged midair, but then Sasuke crashed into him and stabbed him in the chest with another kunai! Blood fell out of the wound and landed on Sasuke´s cheeks.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked.

"Don´t just stand there, Sakura!" Sasuke replied. "Chances are this guy is not alone! Watch out! The others could strike at any second now!"

The enemy took the moment to push Sasuke away. "I wish…" he wheezed. "I came alone to avoid suspicion… Big mistake…!" He then landed and leaped away.

Sasuke landed and wiped the blood off of his cheeks. _So much for him… for now._

* * *

><p>Somewhere else in the forest, Sairento walked alone, looking around for either easy prey or hungry predators. <em>This is unnerving, <em>she thought. _This silence only raises too much suspicion._

"Well, well, look what we have here."

The mute girl looked behind her and found a team of waterfall ninjas looking at her. "Looks like someone was stupid enough to walk on their own," one of them said.

"Yeah, the girl must either be very brave, very confident or very stupid," another said.

The third took a few steps towards Sairento, reached out to her with his palm facing upwards, and said, "Alright, hand over your Earth scroll nice and easy, and we promise to be good men and leave you alone."

_That idiot just revealed what they´re looking for, _Sairento thought in disappointment. _But, it´s the one _I´m _looking for. _"You guys are wasting your time." She then turned around. "I have no quarrel with you." She then started to walk.

Two of the ninjas leaped over her and stood in her way. "You´re not leaving until we get what we want," one of them said.

"Then you´re gonna be here forever."

Unfortunately for the girl, instead of taking the message as a sign of her not having the scroll they were looking for, they drew their kunai to intimidate her. "Do you really wish that we get rough?" one of them impatiently asked.

"I´d rather wish for less idiotic opponents, but you seem to have failed too many classes."

The ninjas then all charged at the mute girl, who was just standing still and waiting for them.

* * *

><p>Team 7 sat on the ground and talked about safety measures during this round of the exam. "That proves that we can´t just trust appearances," Sasuke said. "We have to come up with a way of knowing that each of us is who we say we are, and not just some imposter who uses a Transformation Jutsu."<p>

"Alright, so what do we do?" Sakura asked.

"We need a password."

"What kind of password?" Naruto asked.

"A secret one… Something that´s only known to the three of us. And don´t trust anyone who doesn´t know it, no matter what." Sasuke then prepared to give them the password. "Okay, listen closely, because I only wanna say this once. The question would be 'When does the ninja strike?' and the response is 'A ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lies forgotten in the stillness of the night… THAT is the moment for a ninja to strike.' Got it?"

Sakura smiled. "I got it."

"You got one a little shorter?" Naruto asked, unable to memorize the password.

"No, Naruto, that´s it," Sasuke answered.

"Come on, what´s wrong?" Sakura groaned. "Didn´t you get it? I memorized it easy."

"Yeah. Sure. I got it. I got it, no problem. I just thought it was gonna be a pass_word_, not a pass-_speech_."

Several screams was then heard, and Team 7 looked around in shock. "What was that?" Sakura asked.

* * *

><p>The ninjas that ambushed Sairento were all suspended to trees by kunai stabbed through their shoulders and forearms! They all trembled in fear as they looked at the annoyed mute girl. "Here´s a lesson: Whenever you wanna gang up on one person, make sure you actually have a chance against him or her," she said. She then turned to walk away.<p>

"Y-You´re not gonna leave us here, are you?" one of the restrained ninjas asked. "W-Who´s gonna get us free?"

The girl turned to look at the one who asked. "As Anko-sensei said, there are lots of predators in this forest. I´m sure some of them might rip you free, if not rip you apart." She then left them.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile near the team Torabu spotted, they heard the scream and were all on guard. "W-What was that?" one of them asked.<p>

"M-Maybe someone´s getting attacked and eaten by feral animals!" another of them said, his voice dripping with fear.

The third of them did his best to keep his cool. "D-Don´t you say such stupid things! They just might´ve been through a Genjutsu!"

The bushes near them then started to rustle, and that resulted in the team getting scared. "I w-w-was right, there really ARE feral beasts here!" one of them panicked.

Growling could then be heard. "I-It´s a wolf! Or a lion or tiger!" another panicked.

The rustling in the bushes became wilder and the growling turned louder and angrier. "That´s not a lion, bear, whatever – it´s a monster!" the coolheaded one panicked.

The being behind the bushes then poked its head out of the bushes, revealing itself to be-

-the head of Torabu´s female form. The ninjas stopped trembling and looked at the girl with raised eyebrows.

"MEOW!" the female exclaimed and stretched her body, revealing her big breasts.

The ninjas were startled by the nudity of the teenage girl and fell unconscious, both from the fear they felt and from the sight of naked breasts.

The male Torabu emerged from his hiding spot and chuckled as he approached then knocked out ninjas. "I don´t know who took it worst, them or my pride," he said to his female Shadow Clone.

The girl got on her feet and walked over to him. "I´d say them, since they never saw your real form," she purred.

The cat-boy checked the ninjas´ pockets until he found the Earth scroll. "Perfect." He then looked at his clone. "Thanks for the help."

The cat-girl smiled at him. "Anytime, sweetie," she said, blew him a kiss, and disappeared.

The troublemaking ninja just stared at the spot where his clone stood, an eyebrow raised in wonder. "I don´t know if I should feel disgusted or wierded out." He then shrugged it off and left the area.

* * *

><p>"Alright, then," Sasuke said and stood up, "I´ll take the scroll."<p>

Naruto also stood stood up and protested, "Wait a minute, Sasuke, I…" He was stopped when he felt something painful hit his right cheek. He looked in the direction where the attack came from. "What was that?"

Suddenly, a mighty burst of wind nearly blew our heroes away. They did their best to stand their ground. "What is it now?" Sasuke asked.

* * *

><p>If one looked from above the forest, one could see a big cloud of dust blowing above the tree, all coming from the burst of wind.<p>

The wind stopped, and at the source of it stood the female grass ninja and her two teammates. "Alright, you two head out into the woods, and keep your eyes open," she ordered. "I´ll handle this alone."

* * *

><p>Team 7 had been split up by the windblast. Sasuke lay underneath some bushes, kunai at the ready. He heard a sound and turned to face Sakura. "Sasuke, what was that?" she asked and walked towards him.<p>

Sasuke held his kunai up. "Stay there! First, answer the question!" he demanded. "When does the ninja strike?"

"A ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lies forgotten in the stillness of the night… THAT is the moment for a ninja to strike."

Sasuke lowered his kunai. "Good."

They then both saw Naruto running towards them. "Hey, what´s up? You guys okay?" he asked.

"Don´t come any closer!" Sakura warned, causing Naruto to stop. "What´s the password?"

Naruto smiled. "Oh, sure, no problem. Okay. A ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lies forgotten in the stillness of the night… THAT is the moment for a ninja to strike."

Sakura sighed in relief. Sasuke just smirked and threw a kunai at Naruto, who dodged it. "Hey, what was that for?" the latter asked. "You could´ve killed me!"

"Gotta hand it to you, you´re quicker than the last one," Sasuke replied.

"What´re you talking about? What was wrong with that?" Sakura asked. "He just got the password right, word-for-word!"

"Exactly. _That_´s what´s wrong." Sasuke then explained, "You really think Naruto could memorize all that and get it word-for-word? Not the Naruto I know, not in a million years. You have a better chance teaching it to a hamster."

"Oh, right, you got a point."

"Besides, you saw the way this guy moved when he dodged my attack. That was definitely not a Naruto move." Sasuke then turned his attention back to the imposter. "Alright, come on out, whoever you are, the party´s over."

The imposter smiled and licked his lips. "Aren´t we the clever one," he said with a woman´s voice. A puff of smoke then exploded around the imposter, and when it cleared, the female grass ninja stood in the imposter´s place. "Tell me, if your teammate really is that dimwitted, why´d you come up with a password he would never be able to remember?" she asked.

Sasuke smirked. "You see, it wasn´t meant for Naruto so much as for anybody who might happen to be nearby, trying to eavesdrop on us. It was meant as a trap, and you stumbled right into it."

The woman removed her straw-hat and smiled. "I´m impressed. You certainly haven´t dropped your guard, have you? This promises to be very entertaining." The woman then let her snake tongue out.

_Ugh, she gives new meaning to the word 'creepy', _Sakura thought. _Where is Naruto?_

* * *

><p>Naruto had actually managed to get caught in the windblast and now laid upside-down against a tree. "Okay, upsy-daisy," he grunted as he rolled to his side. "Hey, where did Sasuke and Sakura go? I wonder if…" He stopped talking to himself when a shadow loomed over him. He looked up and could not believe his eyes. He was staring at a huge snake. "Whoa! Oh, my gosh! That´s… That´s… That´s…" He could not finish the sentence out loud, but he could in his head. <em>That is one. Big. Snake!<em>

The huge serpent charged headfirst towards Naruto, but the boy jumped to the side, causing the snake to hit the tree. Naruto was then caught by the serpent´s coils. Unable to move, Naruto was easy prey for the snake. The reptile opened its mouth and ate Naruto whole!

* * *

><p>The grass ninja reached into her pocket and pulled out an Earth scroll, causing our heroes´ eyes to widen. "Ooh, you´d love to get your hands on our Earth scroll, wouldn´t you?" she tempted them. "It would go so nicely with your Heaven scroll." She then held the scroll at her mouth, wrapped her tongue around it, pushed it into her mouth, and swallowed it whole! "Well, when this is all over…" She licked her lips. "…one of us will have both scrolls…" She pulled slightly in her lower eyelid. "…and the other would be dead!"<p>

Both Sasuke and Sakura then saw visions of themselves getting brutally murdered. Their blood spreading all over on the nearby trees and weapons impaling their bodies. Both of them then fell to their knees and gasped. _Is this an illusion?_ Sasuke thought. He then bent over and threw up, much to the woman´s delight. He tried to get up, but could not. _No, it´s more than that… Her thirst for blood is almost palpable. Looking in her eyes… I saw my own death! Who is she? What is she? _Fear had taken its powerful grip on the boy. He turned his head to see that Sakura was paralyzed with fear. _No use… She´s got it worse than me. We´ve got to get outta here! Get away from her!_ He looked back at the woman. _She´s Death!_

* * *

><p>The giant snake slithered through the trees, looking for more preys to eat. "LET! ME! OUTTA HEREEEEE!" Naruto yelled from the serpent´s insides. He was stuck between two of the stomach´s walls, trying to stab the intestines with a kunai. "I´ll make you sorry you ever swallowed me, you stinking…!" He kept cursing and grunting as he kept stabbing. "Let me out!" Stabbing it proved ineffective. He then got an idea. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rice ball. "Wouldn´t you rather have this? I was saving this rice ball for lunch."<p>

The snake moved and caused Naruto to drop the edible object. He then watched as his lunch got digested in seconds. "It´s all gone… And I´ll be digested just like that in another minute!" He then slid down further into the snake´s body. "No! Sakura! Sasuke! Get me outta here!"

* * *

><p>The woman laughed as she watched her opponents tremble. "You´re paralyzed with fear," she mocked.<p>

_What´s wrong with me? _Sasuke thought. _Move! C´mon, move, Sasuke, MOVE! _He then looked at his kunai holster and slowly moved his hand to grab one. _That´s it! You can do this! YES!_ He grabbed hold of a kunai and shakily pulled it out of the holster. He then managed to stand up. _That´s right… Even if it´s just a little… you´ve got to move…!_

The woman smirked at the boy. "Very good," she said. "Now what happens?"

Sasuke´s eyes widened and he felt his body lock up. _It´s no use…! I can´t move!_ The woman then slowly walked towards the two scared genin.

"Don´t worry, I´ll make it quick," the woman said and took out two kunai. "But I don´t have to tell you that, do I? You´ve seen it with your own eyes." She stopped and held the kunai in a throwing position. "I expected you to be more of a challenge… How disappointing." She then threw her weapons.

Sasuke saw the weapons move through the air and knew that they would pierce his and Sakura´s skulls.

* * *

><p>Naruto was starting to feel weakened by the crushing intestines of the serpent. <em>Is this really how it ends?<em> He then remembered all of his friends. Iruka, the Hokage, Konohamaru, Kakashi, Konran, Sairento, Torabu, Sakura… but when he came to Sasuke, he meant that he would miss some more than others. _Hm, I don´t know what Sasuke´s problem was. The guy was always jealous of me. Still, we had our moments. Like that time where we and Torabu helped Kakashi-sensei bring down that creep Zabuza. In a way, we were probably good for each other… Always competing… Pushing each other on every challenge… Always looking for that final showdown to prove which one of us is the best. Hey, that´s right! We never did have our final showdown! We never proved who´s best! And…_ He then remembered his and Torabu´s promise.

"_Let´s promise that, no matter what, we´ll both get through this forest and make it to the tower. No way some flowers are gonna keep us from becoming chunins!_" he remembered Torabu saying.

_I can´t let things hang like that! I got a dream to fulfill! I got a promise to keep! I´m outta here, whether slitherpuss likes it or not!_

* * *

><p>The grass ninja looked at the blood on the ground and her two kunai stuck in a tree branch. She smiled. "So that´s how it is."<p>

* * *

><p>Up in a treetop far away from the grass ninja, Sasuke and Sakura sat on a branch, both panting and afraid. Sasuke looked at his leg, which had a kunai stuck in it! Sasuke had to stab himself in order to overcome the fear. Able to move due to pain, he had grabbed Sakura and fled the scene before either of them could get hurt.<p>

* * *

><p>The woman looked in the direction the two had fled in and smiled. <em>So, he´s not so helpless after all.<em>

* * *

><p>Torabu leaped from tree branch to tree branch. He had heard some screams and was interested to know what was going on. He then noticed the huge snake that had eaten Naruto, and stopped to gawk at the beast. <em>Whoa! That thing´s huge! My old sensei would have loved it.<em> He then smirked at the serpent and said, "Hey, buddy, how´s it going?" The snake looked at the cat-boy, not wanting to eat him due to already devouring something. "You know, if some were to catch you, you would end up as an outfit for rich people," Torabu joked.

The serpent just hissed at him.

The troublemaking ninja then jumped to a branch that was closer to the predator. "Sorry, I might be part cat, but I don´t speak 'Hiss'."

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The snake´s stomach then extended and grew in width beyond what it could take. It then exploded due to too much expansion, and several Naruto clones came out of the now dead snake. "Sorry, but you picked the wrong ninja! I´m gonna be Hokage someday!" Naruto said while his clones gasped for air, both him and them covered in snake-goo. "You think I´m gonna end up like some snake crap in the woods? You´re crazy!"

"Well, glad to see you´re optimistic."

Naruto looked and saw Torabu covered from head to toe in snake-goo. Naruto could not help but laugh. "Looks like someone here needs a bath!" he laughed.

The cat-boy just shook off the goo and glared at his friend. "So, how´s it going for you and your team?" he asked.

Naruto then regained focus. "Oh, crap! Sakura! Sasuke!" He then leaped off, looking for his friends.

Torabu narrowed his eyes. "I don´t like this at all," he said and followed Naruto.

* * *

><p>Sasuke painstakingly pulled out the kunai and looked as some blood flew up from the movement. "That wound is deep!" Sakura gasped. "Will you be alright?"<p>

Sasuke put a hand over his friend´s mouth to keep her quiet and looked around in fear. _Gotta move, _he thought. _Gotta get away from her! But how? Where?_

Sakura was shocked. _I have never seen Sasuke like this. It has gotten me scared._ A shadow then loomed over her. She looked to her right and saw another giant snake. She panicky tried to warn Sasuke, but his hand kept her. She then pushed his hand away and yelled, "Sasuke, watch out!"

Sasuke looked, and both genin jumped out of the way before the snake´s jaws could bite them. "Unbelievable! I didn´t even notice!" Sasuke said baffled while airborne. "I´m losing it!" The snake curled around a tree and lunged at Sasuke. Sasuke could see a similarity to the grass ninja´s eyes in the serpent´s eyes and panicked. "NO! STAY AWAY!" He screamed and threw several shuriken into the beast´s mouth, killing it.

The snake´s corpse got caught in the trees and laid still as blood escaped its mouth. Sasuke landed on a branch and panted. But then he saw something sickening. A part of the serpent´s body started to crack as something emerged from underneath its skin. "I sense your fear and desperation," the grass ninja´s voice sounded, revealing herself to be the thing that was emerging. "It´s only natural. The prey must never let down its guard, not even for a moment…" The woman looked at Sasuke with a malevolent look. "…in the face of its predator." She then laughed as she let her entire snake tongue out.

The woman then transformed her legs into a snake tail in an instant and curled around trees, closing in on a screaming Sasuke! The woman then stopped when kunai and shuriken struck one of the trees, intercepting her path.

"Looks like I came just in time!"

Everyone looked and saw Naruto standing on a tree branch, arms crossed over his chest and a confident smirk on his lips. "Naruto!" Sakura happily exclaimed.

"Oh, and by the way," Naruto said, "what was that password, again?"

A little bit behind Naruto, Torabu stared at the scene he had arrived to. "What is this?" he asked himself. "How much crazier can this exam get?"

* * *

><p>dopliss: I know that you readers might complain about the shortness of the latest chapters, but I just wanted to give one of the main villains of Naruto a longer first appearance.<p>

Mizuki: Besides, dopliss is only unknowingly extending the amount of work this story would take.

(dopliss hits Mizuki hard with a mallet)


	21. Chapter 21 The Forest of Death, part 3

**dopliss: We´re closing in on who the person attacking our heroes is.**

**Mizuki: But will there be any prices to pay?**

**dopliss: (deadpan) Why ask when everyone knows it?**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine! Honestly!**

* * *

><p>"Okay, so anyway," Naruto said, "what is the password, again?"<p>

"Forget it, I know it´s you," Sakura responded. "You made it!"

"Naruto! Get out of here!" Sasuke warned, still scared out of his senses by the grass ninja. "What´re you thinking? You don´t know what you´re up against! Hurry! Go now, while you still can!"

"So, Naruto, you managed to escape from my friend," the grass ninja said. "Well done."

Naruto understood what the woman meant. _I get it. So, that wasn´t just any random giant snake attack. The snake was sent by her, or it, or whatever this demon is._

The woman looked directly at Naruto, but then she spotted Torabu behind him. _That is quite a unique specimen, _she thought.

_He doesn´t get it, _Sasuke thought. _He doesn´t know what he´s dealing with. What do I do?_

"Okay, okay," Naruto began, "I don´t know what´s going on here, but you´ve been picking on my friends, and I don´t like that. So you better slither on back to your home, snake-lady, before I make a pair of shoes out of ya!"

Sasuke was shocked. _That little idiot! He´s just gonna get the three of us killed! I´ve got to do something, but what?_

Sakura could easily see the anxiety in Sasuke´s face.

Torabu looked at the grass ninja. _I knew that there was something fishy about that woman. Who is she?_

Sasuke did his best to come up with a plan, but it was futile. _It´s no use. There´s only one way. _He then looked down. "You can have it!" he said and pulled out his team´s scroll. "The scroll, right? That´s what you want. Alright, then! Take it and leave us in peace!"

The genin were all shocked, but the woman merely smirked. "Sasuke, are you crazy or what?" Naruto yelled. "You´re gonna just hand over the scroll to the enemy? No way! What´s wrong with you?"

"Shut up and stay outta it!" Sasuke returned.

"Very wise. Very sensible," the woman said. "Sometimes, the helpless prey, if they are to save their own skins, realize that their only hope is to distract the predator with something even more precious." She turned to face Sasuke.

"Take it!" Sasuke then threw the Heaven scroll over to the woman, much to the shock of his teammates.

Naruto, not wanting to give up so easily, leaped from the branch he stood on, caught the scroll midair, jumped off of the trunk of another tree, and landed behind Sasuke. "Stop playing the damn hero!" Sasuke roared. "Just stay outta this and leave it to me!"

Fed up with his friend and rival, Naruto turned around and punched Sasuke across his left cheek, making him spit up blood. Sasuke jumped off of the branch and landed on another one further away. "Stupid fool! You don´t know what you´re doing!"

Naruto panted while calming down. "I may not know the password, but I know who I am… You´re the one I´m not so sure about… How do I know you´re who you say you are?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. "It´s him! Don´t be so stupid!"

"What sort of nonsense is this?" Sasuke asked. "It´s me, you loser!"

"Liar…" Naruto growled. "Liar! You may look just like him… you may sound just like him… but there´s no way you´re the Sasuke I know! I don´t care how tough a fight you´ve been through… Surrendering… giving up the scroll… When did Sasuke become a coward? You keep saying that I don´t know what´s going on, but I do! You choke, that´s what it is!"

The woman chuckled and stood up, her legs returning to normal. "Sad, but true," she said. She then licked her lips with her snake tongue. "It doesn´t matter…" She then rolled up her left sleeve, revealing a snake-tattoo. "…as far as the scroll goes, I can simply just kill you and take it." She then bit hole in her right thumb and drew a line of blood across the tattoo.

Naruto growled and ran towards the woman, kunai in hand. "Let´s see you try it!" he yelled.

"DON´T! Naruto, NO!" Sasuke warned.

Naruto just ignored his friend´s warning and leaped at his opponent, who made hand-seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!" the woman exclaimed.

Suddenly, a strong wind burst surrounded the woman, and then a giant snake appeared out of nowhere!

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed in horror.

The snake reeled back, and then charged at Naruto, but the boy jumped out of harm's way, and the reptile crashed into a tree.

The cat-boy gritted his teeth. "This is where I put my hand down!" he said and prepared to join the fight.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the village graveyard, three examiner ninjas had gathered and looked at something. Blood had sprayed out over a Buddha statue. "That is no way to treat a Buddha," one of the ninjas said.<p>

"What do you think?" another asked the first about what they found. "It´s some kind of Ninjutsu, isn´t it?"

"Well, whatever it is, it´s a problem," the third said. "Just when things were running so smoothly… What a drag."

The thing that they found was really three dead bodies, looking strangely like the female grass ninja and her two teammates! "We´ve gotta report this," the third of them said. "Get the proctor."

"Right!" the first one said and disappeared.

* * *

><p>Anko sat on top of the stand where the genin teams all got their scrolls, enjoying her lunch. "Mmm-mmm! Nothing makes dumplings go down like a little sweet red bean soup," she sighed as she took a sip off of her soup. "Ahh! Nice!" She ate another dumpling. "Guess it´s about that time. Soon as I finish this snack, I´ll see how the kiddies are doing." She finished her dumplings. "The quicker ones should be finishing soon. I suppose I´ll just greet them at the tower." She threw the empty stick her dumplings were on at a tree, adding to many others she had thrown to stick them in it like a kunai. She had stuck in so many sticks in the tree so they formed Konoha´s symbol. "There! A perfect symbol!" she giggled.<p>

A puff of smoke appeared before her, and then the ninja that left the cemetery appeared. "Pardon, ma´am. There´s a problem," he said.

"Hmm? What sort of problem?" Anko asked, slightly annoyed.

"Corpses, ma´am. Three of them."

"Come on, I´m trying to eat, here."

"I think you want to see them, there´s something strange about them."

Anko swallowed the food in her mouth. "Besides being dead?" she asked.

* * *

><p>The ninja brought Anko to the graveyard. "I searched through their belongings, found their identification," one of the ninjas explained. "Ninjas from the hidden grass village. All three of them were registered for the Chunin Exams. They weren´t just killed…"<p>

Anko grimaced at the sight. "All their faces… they´re gone…"

"Yeah… There´s nothing where their faces used to be, like they melted or something," the same ninja said.

Anko reached up to touch the back of her neck. _No doubt about it… This is HIS Jutsu. Why is he here? What´s he doing here at the Chunin Exams? _She was slightly scared. "Okay! I need photos of what these three used to look like! Where´s their IDs?"

"Right here, ma´am!" one of them said and gave her the IDs.

Anko looked at the picture of the female grass ninja with clenched teeth. _So this is the face that he stole…! Had it already happened when…? _She then remembered how the female grass ninja returned her kunai. "We´ve got big trouble!" she said. "Okay, get moving! Tell Lord Hokage exactly what happened here! And while you´re at it, tell ANBU black ops they better get a couple of convoys to the Forest of Death!" She turned away. "Meanwhile, I´m gonna head in after these guys! Now, go!"

"Right!" the three ninjas said and disappeared.

Anko could not help but to feel fear. _He´s come… He´s here in Konoha!_

* * *

><p>Naruto panted hard as he stared at the humongous serpent in front of him. The grass ninja chuckled. "What a tasty little meal you´ll make for him," she said. "Careful, he likes to play with his food."<p>

Then, two kunai hit the snake´s back, catching its attention. It turned and stared at Torabu. "How ´bout you go for a little appetizer first?" he asked with a smirk.

The reptile hissed and lashed out with its tail, intending to hit the troublemaking ninja. The cat-boy jumped to dodge, landed on the tail, stabbed it with a kunai, and ran up the snake´s body, slicing in it while doing so. The serpent then made a strong upwards motion that sent Torabu into the air. The beast then lunged at its airborne prey and opened its mouth.

"What would good meat be without IRON?" Torabu grunted and threw a few shuriken into the snake´s mouth, which managed to cut off its uvula!

The snake hissed in pain, but its tail lashed in reaction to its damages and smacked Naruto upwards. "NARUTO!" the boy's friends screamed in shock.

Naruto crashed through several thin branches before colliding with a thick one, coughing up blood upon the impact and getting knocked out. The woman chuckled. "Enough playing, finish him off," she said to the serpent.

Torabu landed on a tree branch and cursed as he watched Naruto slowly fall. "Dammit! I´m too far away and I´m not fast enough to get to him in time!"

Everyone believed Naruto to be doomed, but then he opened his eyes to reveal them to be red with vulpine irises. He flipped rightside-up when he was close enough, yelled "Eat this!" and delivered a crescent-kick to the snake´s nose.

The woman stared into Naruto´s eyes in shock. "But how? It´s impossible!" she said.

Naruto then went ballistic on the serpent and threw several punches to its nose, screaming in rage all the while.

"Look at him, he´s gone nuts," Sakura whispered to herself. "Whoa! Where did he get that power all of a sudden?"

Torabu could not believe his eyes, either. _What´s gotten into him? _He then realized what happened. _Is this… due to being the vessel of the Kyubi…? Is that what´s making him act like that?_ He then remembered Sairento and Konran stating that he went ballistic himself during his fight with Takai. _Is this what they mean? Did I act like that? But… why? I don´t have anything in me like Naruto does._

The snake shook Naruto off of it, but the boy leaped off of another tree and headed towards the woman. The woman smiled, held up her left hand, and blew a big red cloud of dust at Naruto, which made him stop midair and fall down through some thin branches and land on a thicker one.

"That fire in his eyes… There´s no mistaking it!" the woman realized.

Sasuke was also impressed. "Whoa…! Is that… Naruto?"

_Ooh… things have gotten very interesting, _the woman thought. "Now, then…" She turned to look at Sasuke. "…let´s see how you do, Sasuke."

The snake turned and lunged at Sasuke. Paralyzed with fear, the boy was unable to move.

* * *

><p>Anko leaped from branch to branch through the forest. <em>This could be bad… <em>she thought. _Gotta hurry! And pray I´m not too late!_

* * *

><p>The woman smiled as she looked at what had happened. Before the snake could have devoured Sasuke, Naruto had jumped up, and stabbed a kunai into the serpent´s nose, which caused it to bite down too early and hit the tree branch. Naruto panted as he held on to his kunai. He stood right in front of the frightened Sasuke. "Hey, kid…" he said. "You´re not hurt, are you… you scaredycat?"<p>

Sasuke´s eyes widened as he stared into Naruto´s red, vulpine eyes. He then remembered that he had made the exact same mockery-question.

"Standing there, frozen like a frightened rabbit…!" Naruto growled. "No way! You´re not the Sasuke I know!" Just then, a very long tongue crept down to Naruto, bound him, and lifted him in the air! It belonged to the woman! "Hey! Oh, man! Disgusting! Put me down before I yank this tongue out of your head!"

The woman held Naruto with her tongue right in front of her. _Extraordinary! So, the nine-tailed brat lives… _she thought. She then made hand-seals and looked him straight in the eyes. "I see… When your anger is aroused, some of the Kyubi´s chakra is released." Then, purple flames appeared on the fingertips on her right hand! Each of the flames had a different kanji in them. They were the Chinese Five Elements: Metal, Fire, Wood, Wind, and Water. "What an interesting childhood you must have had." She moved the tip of her tongue to lift in Naruto´s shirt, revealing the Kyubi´s seal on his stomach. "The spell that seals it within you has appeared on your skin." She then moved her right hand back. "Five Pronged Seal!" she yelled and slammed her hand into his stomach.

Naruto screamed as the purple flames burned into his skin and made five marks around his seal.

"Sasuke! Hurry!" Sakura screamed. "Do something!"

Sasuke could do nothing but stare in shock.

Torabu gritted his teeth. _If I attack, she might kill him right then and there._

Naruto felt his powers fading, his eyes returned to normal, and he lost consciousness.

_For twelve years, the seal has remained unbroken, _the woman thought. _Soon, the demon´s chakra and the boy´s will be as one._ She then reached into Naruto´s pocket and pulled out the Heaven scroll. _But for now, he´s just in my way. _She then used her tongue to toss Naruto away.

Torabu, quick to react, leaped at and caught Naruto, and landed on another branch, making sure that his friend would be safe. He then directed hi attention towards his other friends. "Sasuke, what´s wrong with you?" he shouted.

Sakura turned and looked at the scared boy. She then yelled, "Okay, say what you like about Naruto! That he´s a pest; that he gets in the way; that he´s just a kid… But at least he´s… he´s doing something!" Tears fell from her eyes. "At least… he´s no coward!"

That statement reached through to Sasuke´s mind. He then remembered his ultimate goal: to kill his own brother. _"Foolish little brother, you can´t kill me,"_ he heard his brother´s voice in his head. _"Your hate´s not strong enough. _You´re_ not strong enough. Your life is too precious to you. So, run. That´s right, run away… and live. Live with the shame."_

"NO!" Sasuke shouted and revealed his Sharingan Eyes.

_Hmm, it happened at last, _the woman thought. _His Uchiha blood has finally come to a boil._

"That´s more like it…" Sakura whispered.

The woman got into a fighting position. _I think I´ll play with him a little… and learn the full extent of his powers._ She then mentally laughed and made her snake disappear.

Team 7´s lives were now in Sasuke´s hands. Will he be able to save them? And who is this person that Anko is worried about?

* * *

><p>dopliss: One more chapter until the reveal, folks!<p>

Mizuki: What reveal? Every fan of Naruto already knows who this person is!

dopliss: Maybe, but this is for those who don´t.


	22. Chapter 22 The Forest of Death, part 4

**dopliss: This is the final "short chapter" for a while. I promise!**

**Mizuki: I sure hope so. The readers must have been going nuts for the last couple chapters.**

**Disclaimer: dopliss own only this story and its original characters.**

* * *

><p>Sasuke took a kunai in his hand. <em>All I cared about was surviving in order to defeat my brother, <em>he thought. _What a fool I´ve been… I see the truth now. Naruto… Sakura… Torabu… If I haven´t the courage to face this demon… how can I ever hope to face him?_

Sasuke dashed along the branch he stood on, leaped at the grass ninja, and threw his kunai and a few more at her, but she dodged them. Sasuke then jumped off of the surface of another tree, landed near the woman, and started delivering punches, but she either dodged or blocked them. The woman then started attacking too, but Sasuke was able to dodge and block them, as well. The woman then leaped over Sasuke, and when he looked at where she landed, she was gone.

Sasuke looked around and heard the woman´s movements. She was slithering through the trees around him – using her legs´ transformed state – at a high speed. Luckily, Sasuke – thanks to his activated Sharingan – managed to see her and dodged by jumping away when she attacked. He landed and blew a few small fireballs at where she was, and then followed up by blowing a huge burst of flame at her!

The woman dodged the flames by burrowing through the branch and moving through it to attack Sasuke, who dodged when the woman burst out of the branch to strike.

_You´re good, _the woman thought and narrowed her eyes. _You anticipate my attacks, and your aim is true… You can see my moves, can´t you?_

* * *

><p>Anko stopped her chase through the forest and looked at the setting sun. <em>The sun´s going down, <em>she thought. _I gotta find him soon. My odds are bad enough as it is. It´ll only get worse in the dark. But why _now_? What the devil could he be after? No matter. He´s here… Time to finish this._

* * *

><p>The woman roared as she sent a large wind burst towards Sasuke. Even though he dodged, the blast still managed to tear through the branch and cut half of it off! Sasuke jumped off of the underside of a branch towards the woman, grabbed her, spun 180 degrees so that her head faced the ground, and then – after a long fall – crashed her head into a thick branch and leaped off of her!<p>

But then something weird happened to the woman. She jittered a little, before she turned into mud! "A replacement!" Sasuke realized.

He then noticed several kunai getting flung towards him and leaped out of the way by jumping off of the branch. While falling, he ripped out some threads from his arm warmers, and managed to get them around a smaller branch, braking his fall and giving him a way to sling to another branch.

When he landed, the grass ninja appeared before him, ran up to him, and punched him in the face. She then landed a few more punches and finished with a stronger punch that sent Sasuke slightly into the air and made him land on his front.

Torabu and Sakura were both worried when they saw their friend in peril. _C´mon, Sasuke, you can kick her ass!_ the former thought.

The woman walked up to the downed Sasuke. "What a disappointment you turned out to be," she said. "Your ancestors weep. The Uchiha clan should be thanking me for killing you, silly little worm."

Unknown to the woman, Sasuke had planted small bombs on her shirt, which exploded and singed her. While his opponent was stunned from the small explosion, Sasuke leaped onto his feet and threw several shuriken, with metal strings attached, past her. He then pulled in the strings, and the shuriken changed their route, much to the woman´s surprise.

"Incredible…!" she gasped. "A Sharingan Windmill Triple Attack!"

The shuriken hit several locations, and the strings managed to trap the woman and tie her to a thick tree. Having his opponent unable to move, Sasuke made hand-seals and prepared to finish her off. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" he yelled and blew a huge burst of flame that traveled across the strings, hit the woman, and burst through the tree she was tied to!

The woman screamed as she got severely burned. Torabu and Sakura, on the other hand, smiled for their friend´s victory. "He did it!" the latter cheered.

The flames died down, and all that remained was a burned tree, a defeated grass ninja, and an exhausted Sasuke. The cat-boy – who still held onto the unconscious Naruto – and the pink-haired girl both ran over to Sasuke, who was panting. "Are you okay?" the former asked.

"Don´t worry… it´s all over," Sakura assured and checked him for any wounds.

Suddenly, the woman broke free of the strings that bound her, took a few steps forward, and made a hand-seal that caused our heroes to freeze in place! "No…! Impossible…!" Sasuke gasped.

"Such mastery of the Sharingan in such young an age…" the woman said, with her voice strangely turning into a deep, male, whisper-like one. "You´re a true Uchiha, after all." The woman´s face had been badly burned, but at her left eye, a hole was made. And if one looked at the hole, one could see an amber eye with a snake-like slit for a pupil and purple markings around it! The woman placed her hand over her headband, and when she removed her hand, the village symbol had changed to the one belonging to the hidden sound village. "Yes… you´ll do nicely." Sasuke did his best to be able to move again. "You´re definitely his brother. If anything, your eyes are even keener than Itatchi´s."

"Who are you? What do you want?" Sasuke yelled his question.

The woman took Team 7´s Heaven scroll in her right hand and said, "My name is Orochimaru," revealing that the sound ninja was a male. "But as for what I want, that would have to wait until we meet again – which won´t happen until you finish this test with the best score of all." The scroll he held then burst into green flames.

"The scroll!" Sakura gasped.

"First, you´ll have to defeat the hidden sound ninja who serve me."

"I have no idea what you´re talking about," Torabu growled, "but if you´ve finished, why don´t you just beat it? If we never meet again, it´ll be too soon!"

Orochimaru looked at the troublemaking ninja. _That boy… How do I know him…?_ "Oh… you and I will meet again." He then made hand-seals, and then – without warning – extended his neck to a very long distance, quickly moved his head to Sasuke, and bit down hard on the boy´s neck with his fangs!

"Sasuke, NO!" Sakura screamed in shock.

Orochimaru let go of Sasuke´s neck, leaving two bleeding holes, and retracted his neck back to normal. Then Sasuke was hit by an extreme amount of pain as three circles appeared on the back of his neck.

"You…! What´ve you done to Sasuke?" Sakura asked angrily.

Orochimaru smiled wickedly. "I just gave him a little parting gift. Very soon, Sasuke will seek me out… and desire my power." He then sank inside of the tree branch he stood on while giving his parting words to them. "In the meantime, I enjoyed the demonstration of the powers you already possess." He then chuckled evilly and disappeared.

Sasuke gave out an ear piercing scream of pain and collapsed. The others, now able to move, checked on him in worry. "What is it? What´s he done to you?" Sakura worriedly asked. She then tried to help him sitting up. "It´s okay…"

Torabu then took notice of the mark that had appeared on his friend´s neck. _Where did that come from? Is that what that creep did?_

"No… You´re gonna be okay," Sakura soothingly said to Sasuke, before he passed out. "Sasuke…!" As she held her unconscious crush against her, she felt tears pressing forth. "I… I don´t know what to do…" she sobbed.

"We need to get Sasuke and Naruto to a safe place," Torabu said. He reached down and helped Sakura up. "It´ll be dark soon. If we don´t find cover, you´ll be easy prey for feral animals as well as opposing teams."

Sakura wiped a tear away from her eye and nodded. "Y-You´re right…"

* * *

><p>The darkness had set in, and somewhere else in the forest, Orochimaru emerged from a tree branch by slowly rising from it.<p>

Anko leaped from tree to tree in her search for her target. _I can feel him… He´s somewhere close…_

Orochimaru had decided to take rest by merging inside a tree, only his head and the top of his torso visible! He then noticed someone near him and saw Anko stand on the other end of the branch. He smiled and chuckled when he saw her. "Well, well, Anko… it´s been a while…" he said.

"This is no time to reminisce," the proctor seriously said. "You´re an S-class criminal, top of the 'most wanted' list… You´ve got to be taken down, and it´s only fitting that I´m the one to do it." She took out some needles from her sleeve. "´Cause after all, you´re the one who taught me everything… right, Sensei…?"

"Not quite," Orochimaru smiled.

Anko prepared to throw the needles, but Orochimaru extended his tongue and lashed it out after her like a whip. Anko dodged by jumping up on the trunk, but the tongue followed her, wrapped around her right arm, and pulled her back onto the branch.

"Striking Shadow Snakes!" Anko yelled and made four snakes appear out of her left sleeve! Then the snakes dashed forward and struck the tree Orochimaru was in. "Come out of there!" Anko yelled and pulled her target out of the tree and towards her, using the snakes and his tongue. She tossed him into another trunk, retracted her snakes back into her sleeve, dashed over to him, pressed his right hand against the tree with her left, and stabbed a kunai in both her hand and Orochimaru´s! She winced from the pain, but then smiled gloatingly at him. "Ha! I´ve got ya… Now then… let me just borrow your left hand…!" She used her right hand and held his left in an odd position. Her index and little finger were stretched while her thumb was pressed against his palm, creating a hand-seal.

Orochimaru´s visible eye narrowed when he saw what she was doing. "That hand-seal…!"

"Right…! It´s over… You and I are going to die here…!" She then took a deep breath as she prepared for what to come. _Ninja Art: Twin Snake Sacrifice Jutsu!_

"I´m afraid you will die alone, Anko."

Anko´s eyes widened as she looked behind her. There stood another Orochimaru! He grabbed the damaged face he had used as a disguise and tore it off, revealing his extremely pale skin. "That´s right…" he said. "A replacement."

The moon shone onto them as Anko stared in shock at the clone she held captive that was turning into mud. She closed her eyes and felt her energy eave her body as Orochimaru laughed.

"Of course, you one of the elite now," he said as he walked up to her, "a righteous warrior. How naughty of you to use that forbidden Jutsu I taught you." Anko pulled out the kunai in her hand and threw it at him, but he caught it with ease. "It won´t work, Anko." He then made a hand-seal and used it to paralyze her. He then walked up close to her.

"Why are you here…?" Anko asked.

"I´m disappointed. I expected a friendlier reception after all this time."

"Don´t tell me you´ve come here to assassinate Lord Hokage…!" she panted.

"No, not yet… I don´t have quite enough followers to attempt that. But I´ve heard such good things about this village; I thought I want to make it mine." Anko winced, fell down to her knees, and felt a lot of pain at her neck. "Ah, it´s the mark, isn´t it? I put that same curse mark on a young man, just a little while ago. He´s a very promising prospect."

"You haven´t changed, I see…! He´ll die before he serves you…!"

"Very possibly… I´d say the odds are one-in-ten against him. But the kid may survive, as you did."

"Sounds like you want him badly, huh?"

Orochimaru kneeled down before her and cupped Anko´s cheek with his right hand. "Awww, jealous? Is that it? You can´t forgive me, can you? For using you and then tossing you aside?" Anko glared at him as he removed his hand. "In some ways, the boy has even more potential than you had. You see, he´s inherited the sublime abilities of the Uchiha clan. And his physical condition is excellent. Yes, he might very well be the heir I´m looking for. At the very least, he makes things interesting." He stood up. "Whatever happens, make sure no one stops the exams early." He then turned and walked away. "Three of my followers are also candidates. I look forward to see how they fare." He then disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. "Bear this in mind: If anything happens to deprive me of my fun, it means the end of Konoha."

* * *

><p>Down on the ground and near a running creek, Rock Lee and his team stood around, having a break. "Alright," Neji began, "that´s enough resting up, I think. The other teams will be calling it a day soon, and that means it´s time to strike. You know the plan: We split up and fan out. Whatever happens – whether we make contact with another team or not – we meet up back here in <em>this<em> spot." Once that was said, he stuck a kunai into the ground. "Got it?"

"No sweat…" Tenten sighed.

"Roger!" Lee saluted.

"Alright, then," Neji said. "Let´s move!" And then the three were off in each a different direction.

* * *

><p>In the meantime, at another place at the surface, Torabu and Sakura had found a hollow tree with a big hole they could use for a place to rest. Sakura saw Sasuke wince and placed her hand on his forehead to check on him. "At least he´s finally breathing easier now, but he still got a high fever," she said. She removed her hand and looked at Naruto, who lay next to Sasuke. <em>Alright… it´s up to me, for the time being, <em>she thought.

Torabu stood outside of the tree, standing guard and on the lookout for anything that could hurt his friends. _Are they like I was during that trip to the Land of Waves?_

* * *

><p>Anko had made it to a forest clearing and had wrapped bandages around her left hand. <em>I´ve wasted enough time,<em> she thought. _Somebody´s got to tell Lord Hokage._

She then started walking, but stopped when she saw something hiding in some bushes. She narrowed her eyes at the complicating entity.

A tiger.

The feline predator growled as it walked out of the bushes, revealing itself to her. "I don´t have time for this…!" Anko growled as she saw two more tigers approach her from her sides. She then felt a sharp pain in her neck and was paralyzed.

The tigers approached their coming prey, but then something hit one of the tigers and instantly knocked it out, while the other tigers were unable to move. "A paralyzation Jutsu!" Anko recognized.

"So there you are, Anko."

She looked up and saw two ninjas on a tree branch. Both of them wore masks with animal motifs, signifying them to be part of ANBU. They leaped down to her, and she said, "Man, you ANBU goons took your time getting here, didn´t you?"

"Well, there´s no need to get snippy," one of them retorted. Anko then felt even more pain and collapsed on the ground. "Anko, are you alright? What is it?" He then noticed the same curse mark that Sasuke had on her neck. "That curse mark has appeared! But that means… Orochimaru!"

"What? Here? No!" the other ANBU guy said.

"Hurry, let´s get you up!" the first of them said to Anko. "We´ll carry you to Lord Hokage, if we have to."

Anko sat up at that last statement. "No! No! Take me to the tower!" she said.

"What´re you talking about? You know we have to raise the alarm at the first sign of Orochimaru! It´s more important than the Chunin Exams!"

"I know, but…!" Anko then looked pleadingly at them. "Alright then, bring Lord Hokage to the tower! I´ll explain everything there!"

* * *

><p>At Team 7´s hideout, hiding up in a tree, the three sound ninjas were watching Sakura sleeping inside and Torabu standing guard. "Found you," the bandaged ninja chuckled. "Alright, just as Orochimaru ordered, we strike at daybreak. And remember, our target is the Uchiha."<p>

"Yeah, but if the other three interfere, it´s okay if we take them out, right?" the spiky-haired one asked.

"Of course."

Hours later, the sun rose and woke Sakura up. Despite the happy chirping of the birds, our heroes would not enjoy the new day.

One day of the exam had passed, but how will the others turn out? Better? Or worse?

* * *

><p>dopliss: Orochimaru has finally been introduced!<p>

Mizuki: Technically, he was already introduced in chapter 19, but not his name.

dopliss: He was introduced then, he was introduced now. To-_may_-to, to-_mah_-to.


	23. Chapter 23 The Forest of Death, part 5

**dopliss: Okay… Let´s see if I can make longer chapters in the Forest of Death part.**

**Mizuki: I hope you can, eight chapters or more in one place sounds a little long, don´t you think?**

**dopliss: Just consider these long chapters as my Christmas gift to my faithful readers.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

* * *

><p>Sakura was busy attending her unconscious teammates, and especially Sasuke with his high fever. But even though she wanted to protect her friends more than anything, she had to struggle with the unavoidable part of humanity called sleep. She shook her head in an attempt to keep herself awake. <em>I can´t fall asleep, <em>she thought. _I have to protect these two…_

"It´s okay if you sleep a little," Torabu´s voice sounded from outside of the tree. "I´ll stay here and keep my eyes open."

Sakura looked out of the hole in the tree and smiled tiredly at the cat-boy. "Thanks, Torabu," she said before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

><p><em>Sakura awoke when she heard the yawning of her jumpsuit-clad teammate. "Oh wow, I slept really great," Naruto said while sitting up.<em>

"_Naruto!" Sakura happily exclaimed. She became even happier when Sasuke sat up and awoke seconds after. "Sasuke!"_

"_Did you take care of us this whole time?" Sasuke asked._

"_Thanks, Sakura," Naruto thanked, "we´re all better because of you."_

_Sakura was so happy that she let some tears come forth. "I´m glad you´re okay…" she said._

_She then heard some rustling in some bushes. Thinking that it was Torabu, she looked in the sound´s direction, only to find Orochimaru there, still wearing the burned face he had worn as part of his disguise. "Now you´ll see what it´s like to be prey, panicking and frantically running away from a predator," he ominously said. "And that predator is me!"_

_Sakura then stared in horror as Orochimaru turned into a big snake and quickly slithered towards them. She tried to warn her friends, but no sound came out of either her mouth or the boys´ mouths. She tried to scream as the snake hovered over them, opened its mouth, and quickly stroked to eat its prey._

* * *

><p>Sakura woke up in shock and quickly took a look at her still-sleeping teammates. <em>It was just a dream, <em>she thought in relief. She looked out of the tree and saw the sun rising. _I can´t believe it´s daytime already._

Torabu still leaned up against the tree. He then heard the bushes rustle and looked at what the cause was. Just to be on the safe side, he pulled out a kunai and held it in a throwing position.

_A squirrel? _he thought when he saw the source of the rustling.

Indeed, it was a squirrel, peacefully eating a nut between its paws. "Hey there, little guy. Enjoying your breakfast?" the troublemaking ninja asked cheerfully.

The critter ate up and moved towards the cat-boy. Torabu widened his eyes and quickly threw the kunai, which hit just a few inches in front of the squirrel. The rodent, in response, fled from the place. _That was too close, _Torabu mentally sighed.

Up and hidden in the trees, the sound ninjas looked at the scene with great interest. "I thought for sure that would work," the spiky-haired one said disappointedly. "Do you think he saw the paper bomb we put on the squirrel?"

"No… that wasn´t it," the bandaged one said.

"Then what was it? What´re you thinking?"

"I´m thinking we need to get closer and find out… so let´s get going."

* * *

><p>Rock Lee was leaping through the forest. He then took a little stop on one of the branches and noticed twenty leaves slowly falling to the ground. Being his challenge-craving self, he decided to use the leaves to his favor. <em>Okay! If I can get all those leaves before they hit the ground, then Sakura will fall in love with me! But if I cannot, then she will never return my feelings! That is the challenge I am going to give myself! <em>He then remembered Sakura´s rude comment about his bushy eyebrows. _I cannot believe she said that! I will show her I am worthy!_

And then, with the symbolic fires of determination in his eyes, he leaped from the branch and at the falling leaves. He managed to get a lot of them in his hands, before he landed on a branch back-first and got hurt. "Nine…teen…" he silently said as he recovered from the impact.

He then noticed the final leaf and let himself fall in order to get the leaf. He almost caught it, when he noticed the screaming of an animal. He looked and saw a squirrel – the very same squirrel that Torabu chased away – rolling around on the ground with its back aflame! Lee fell down onto the ground and quickly dashed to grab the critter and remove the paper bomb on its back.

"Whew… that was close," he said to the rodent while putting out the flames erupting from the paper bomb. "This paper bomb explodes after a certain amount of time… Who would do such an awful thing?"

He then noticed that the final leaf had hit the ground, meaning that he failed to complete his self-given challenge.

* * *

><p>Neji was down on the ground, looking around for any opposing teams. He noticed someone hiding behind a bush and said, "Alright, stop hiding and come out."<p>

The persons behind the bush were none other than Team 10. "Shoot! How could he have seen us? We hid so fast!" Ino whispered in slight panic.

"What a drag," Shikamaru whispered. "Now that he have found us out, this is gonna be such a pain."

"It´s no big deal. Our hide-and-hang-out strategy didn´t work, so we´ll just use strategy 2#."

"What? Are you serious, Ino?" Choji asked.

"You got a problem with that? Trust me, this plan can´t fail."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, what do we got to lose?"

Team 10 emerged from their hiding place and stood with poses of admiration. Ino slightly squealed for a moment before saying, "Wow! Imagine, running into last year´s number one rookie, Neji Hyuga, out here!"

"Can I have your autograph?" Shikamaru unconvincingly asked.

"Oh, it´s you guys," Neji groaned.

"Yeah!" Ino said and moved her hands to her ponytail. _Strategy two: Where you fall head over heels in love with my beauty._ She then loosened her ponytail and let her long hair fall freely. "Hi there," she said in a seductive voice. "I´ve been wanting to meet you for a really long time, Neji. So, hi…"

Neji´s response was simple. "Get lost," he said and turned around to walk away.

Ino did not take that rejection well. _WHAT? He should´ve been pulled over by my beauty! Why didn´t that work? _She then started punching the air. _Ugh! It makes me so angry I could just hit something!_

Suddenly, Neji stopped. "Did you just raise your fist at me?" he asked. "Does that mean you want to fight?"

Ino immediately calmed down and scratched the back of her head with one hand while holding up the other in a reassuring gesture. "No… No way! ´Course not!" she said.

"Go away," Neji groaned. "Even if I were to steal a scroll from you cowardly wimps, everybody would just laugh at me for it."

"Sounds good to me!" Ino said as she and her teammates ran away.

"Huh. They scurry off like cockroaches," Neji said.

Team 10 stopped and panted in relief when they had gone a considerately big distance away from Neji. _Just as I thought, _Shikamaru thought. _Someone like him wouldn´t take a scroll from people like us unless we turned on him and attacked._

"Alright!" Ino said while tying her hair in a ponytail again. "Let´s see if we can find some weaklings!" And then she nervously laughed.

"Yeah, well, I doubt we´ll find anyone weaker than us," Shikamaru grumbled.

* * *

><p>Torabu walked into the tree to Sakura, who was fighting to not dose off. "I told you it was okay to sleep," he said to her.<p>

She looked up at him. "I´m not taking any chances. I want to do anything to help my friends," she said.

"Sleep is important, you know. If you don´t get enough, you´ll be a lot less pretty."

She slightly blushed and looked down. "You know, I always thought that you were just a prankster who didn´t take anything seriously, like Naruto. But, you´re a lot different than that."

"I know when it´s time to fool around and when it´s time to be serious." He sat down beside her. "You shouldn´t judge a book by its cover. Naruto and I are way different than you think."

They then sat in silence for a while, before Sakura broke it by asking, "So, how come you´re frightened by dogs?"

He looked at the ground before answering, "You remember me saying I had a sensei before Kakashi, right?" She nodded. "Well, while I was under his care, he made me go through a training exercise that involved me getting thrown into a pit full of dogs. I was thrown in with meat bound to me, in order to get the dogs to attack me." He sighed. "As you may have guessed, I never passed that exercise and got my fear of dogs."

Sakura was shocked when she heard that. "How old were you when you went through that?" she asked.

"Seven years old."

"T-That´s horrible! What did your sensei ever hope to get out of that torture?"

"Something about making me skilled to fight against multiple opponents."

They were then silent again. "Y´know," Torabu started, "you guys are really good friends."

She looked surprised at him. "Why are you saying that?"

"To tell you the truth, I had no friends before I met Naruto. People just carelessly ignored me and thought of me as some passerby. Even when I started making pranks, I still was lonely. When I met Naruto, however, I started to feel happy. I had finally found a person who I could relate to, someone who knew what loneliness felt like. And before I knew better, I met the rest of you."

She smiled at him. "What do you think of us – individually, I mean?"

He smiled back. "Well, Sasuke might be more of a loner, but I know that he cares about us. I actually respect that guy. Sairento might be silent and cold at times, but she shows a lot of compassion towards us. Konran is an intelligent person and quite a good with people. You I see as a caring individual, even though you treat Naruto like you do." He closed his eyes for a little while and finally said, "And Naruto… I consider my best friend. He and I are very alike."

"Wow… You seem to really care about us," Sakura said.

"You guys are my friends, my teammates… If that snake-creep is after you, or those lackeys of him are coming to get you, expect me to be there to help you." And here he happily chuckled.

"Is that so?"

Both of our heroes turned to face the three sound ninjas who stood right at the opposite end between the tree and the rest of the forest. "Talking to each other is a bad way of being on the lookout," the bandaged one said. "At least you don´t have to do that anymore. What´s the point after we´ve already found you? Now wake Sasuke up, we want to fight him."

_You´ll never get him, you jerks! _Torabu growled and stood up.

Sakura also stood up, but held a hand near her kunai holster. "What do you want here?" she asked. "I mean, what do you really want? I know Orochimaru is calling the shots from the shadows." The sound ninjas widened their eyes when they heard that. "What´s that strange mark on the back of Sasuke´s neck? You´re behind this too, aren´t you? And now you wanna fight him when he can´t defend himself?"

"What in the world could he be thinking?" the bandaged one mumbled.

"I can´t stay quiet after hearing you talk to us like that," the spiky-haired one said. "First I´m gonna kill these two, and then I´m gonna kill Sasuke."

"Wait, Zaku."

"What? Why?"

The bandaged one took a few steps forward, kneeled down, and felt the ground. "It´s so obvious. This is the color of dirt that´s recently been dug up. And this kind of grass doesn´t grows in a place like this." He looked at our heroes. "You know, if you´re going to lay a trap, there´s no point unless you make sure it´s actually hidden." He then stood up.

"Ha!" the spiky-haired one, Zaku, scoffed. "You´re just a joke. You threw that kunai knife so that squirrel wouldn´t spring the trap, huh?"

The bandaged one tilted his head in an eerie way. "NOW we can kill them."

Once that was said, the three sound ninjas leaped up into the air, preparing to strike. Sakura smirked and used a kunai to cut a thin rope near her. Then all of a sudden, a giant log held up by a rope swung towards the sound ninjas. "They also laid a trap above?" the bandaged one asked. When the log came close enough, the bandaged one placed his right hand on it. "Nice try, you two." Then, much to Sakura´s and Torabu´s surprise, the log broke, leaving the sound ninjas unharmed. "Clearly, someone like you have no talent as ninjas. Someone like you need to make little more of an effort, don´t you think?"

Our two heroes tensed up and prepared to fight.

"Leaf Hurricane!"

Suddenly, Rock Lee appeared out of nowhere, the squirrel sitting soundly on his shoulder, and roundhouse kicked the sound ninjas away. Lee landed in front of our heroes and looked as the sound ninjas were recovering. "Looks like you also need to make more of an effort," he said.

"Who are you?" the bandaged one asked.

"I am the handsome devil of Konoha. And my name is Rock Lee."

"W-What´re you doing here, Lee?" Sakura asked.

"I will always appear anytime and anywhere that you are in trouble, Sakura." He took the squirrel and placed it on the ground. "This was really all thanks to you, little one. But now it is time for you to run along." Then the rodent left.

"But we´re enemies during this test," Torabu said.

"I already told you. I will protect Sakura until I die."

Sakura remembered how Lee had asked her to be his girlfriend and nodded. "Yes… Thank you… Rock Lee…"

Lee let some tears of joy run down his cheeks. _Yes! She said yes, Guy-sensei! She said yes!_ he thought.

The bandaged ninja took out an Earth scroll from his pocket and said, "It looks like I have no choice. Zaku, I´ll let you have Sasuke." He threw the scroll to Zaku. "I´ll take care of these guys."

Torabu stepped up next to Lee. "Don´t think you´re the only one to protect her."

_That guy with the bushy eyebrows seems pretty good at Taijustsus. Looks like I get to have some fun, _the bandaged one thought and ran towards Lee.

Sakura threw a kunai at the ninja, but he jumped over it. Lee then dug into the ground and pulled out one of the tree´s big roots, which lost a huge chunk when the ninja attacked. "I am positive that there is some kind of trick to your attack, therefore I will not waste my time trying to dodge it," Lee said, much to the ninja´s surprise. "After all, I´ve seen your Jutsu before." _Of course, having said that, my odds are not good with three against two. I have to take a chance. One at the time, I will attack each of them with all my might!_

Torabu made hand-seals. _Lee is very good at Taijutsus, so I might as well back him up with some firepower!_

* * *

><p>Team 10 had taken a break after much looking around. Well, in Choji´s case, it was an eating break he was having up in a tree. "Oh, man!" Ino groaned. "There doesn´t seem to be anyone around who is weaker than us!"<p>

"Not so fast," Shikamaru reassured. "I think that Naruto´s team might actually still be weaker than we are."

Ino was offended by that remark. "Take that back right now, you jerk!" she threatened.

"What do you mean?"

"There´s no doubt that Naruto and Sakura are lame, but I won´t have you badmouthing Sasuke! He´s awesome!"

Shikamaru crossed his arms. "Yeah, whatever. Maybe your precious Sasuke is better in theory than in practice." One death glare and growl from his female teammate made him change his mind. "Alright, alright! I apologize if I upset you!" _What a drag. I say one little negative thing about Sasuke, and I get the evil eye from his number one fan here._

"There is no way that Sasuke could lose a battle!" Ino declared. "But Sakura´s a different manner!"

Suddenly, Choji spotted something from his position. "Hey! Sasuke´s collapsed!" he called. "And Sakura´s fighting!"

"What did you say?" Ino asked before she and Shikamaru joined their friend on the branch. They looked and could not believe their eyes.

* * *

><p>Back at Lee´s team´s meeting place, Tenten and Neji had met up and waited for their friend. "He´s late," Tenten sighed. "And he´s never late. Lee is… well, fanatical about time. Maybe he ran into the enemy." Her eyes then widened. "You think…?"<p>

Neji chuckled. "No, I´m sure he´s alright," he said. "But still, we better go find him."

"Right," she nodded, and then they were off.

While leaping through the trees, Neji thought of the past.

* * *

><p>"<em>YES! I did it! I finally mastered a Jutsu!" Lee cheered when he had cleaved a log in half.<em>

"_Enough resting! You´re wasting your precious gifted youth!" Guy said._

_Tenten and Neji were off to the side, panting heavily. The latter growled at his rival´s progress._

This Jutsu… _Guy thought. _In the end, only Lee can make it his own._ He then tried to snap Lee out of his very cheerful attitude. But when even yelling failed, he had to punch the boy out of his joy. "Now listen to your sensei´s awesome message," Guy said._

"_Yes… I am ready… to hear your amazing wisdom, sir," Lee said while getting up._

_Lee´s teammates could not believe Lee´s calm reaction to getting punched._

"_This new Jutsu, the Lotus technique, is now forbidden," Guy said, much to Lee´s shock._

"_What do you mean? Why?" Lee protested._

"_This Jutsu, it puts a huge strain on your body´s muscles. It´s a self-sacrificing technique. Normally, humans only use at most 20% of their muscles´ strength. Do you understand only about 20%? If all of the power were to be used, the muscles would disintegrate, so the brain regulates the amount of power the muscles can exert. But this Jutsu is different. It uses chakra, which forces the brain to go past its limits, allowing for continuous high-speed Taijutsu. In other words, this Jutsu relies on a secret technique that brings forth power almost to the limit of the human body. So, you see, it´s _very_ dangerous." He held up one finger. "There´s one time this Jutsu should be used. When a particular condition is met."_

"_Yes, I see!" Lee saluted. "So what is this condition, sir?"_

"_Are you ready?" Guy then talked to all of his students. "You all need to take this to heart. The condition is…"_

* * *

><p>Lee looked down while unwrapping the bandages on his hands. <em>Guy-sensei, I have to use the Lotus now. The condition has been met. I must use the Jutsu!<em>

The bandaged ninja ran towards our heroes, and Torabu and Sakura tensed up. Lee then looked at his opponent with a tense look and uttered the condition his Jutsu needed to require. "…To protect the life of someone precious!"

When the ninja was close enough, Lee disappeared, catching the ninja off guard, and reappeared by delivering a strong kick to the ninja´s face, which sent him airborne. Lee then quickly jumped up so he was behind the ninja, let his bandages wrap around his opponent so he was bound, grabbed him, and turned around so that they both fell headfirst towards the ground!

"Oh, no!" Zaku gasped. "Dosu! There´s no way he can break his fall!" He then started making hand-seals.

Lee began spinning around fast. "Primary Lotus!" he shouted and prepared to hit the ground.

Before the two could hit the ground, Zaku plunged his hands into the ground and sent something burrowing through the ground over to the landing spot. At the very last moment, Lee let go of Dosu and jumped away, leaving the bandaged ninja to take the fall. A cloud of dust rose when Dosu landed, but when it cleared, it showed the bandaged ninja in a mound of dirt.

"Heh, got you just in time," Zaku smirked. "That impact could´ve been much worse for you."

Lee could not believe his eyes when Dosu crawled out of the dirt mound, mostly safe. "WHAT? This cannot be!" he exclaimed.

"That is a frightening Jutsu," Dosu said. "It nearly took me out, even though I landed on this soft dirt." Both he and Lee then stood up, the former panting out of exhaustion. "Now it´s my turn!"

_No! My body still hasn´t recovered from that Jutsu! _Lee thought.

Dosu ran forward and took a swipe at Lee, but even though he dodged, he still felt a huge pain. His ears rang and his vision blurred. "Your Jutsu is indeed fast," Dosu said, "but ours is even faster because it travels at the speed of sound." Lee collapsed and panted hard. "Effort by itself does nothing. Now watch. We´re going to show you something called 'the Wall'."

_Jutsu traveling at the speed of sound?_ Torabu thought. _This won´t be pretty!_

How will our heroes defend themselves against the very power of sound itself? Is there a weakness to this foreign Jutsu? And will they find it before it is too late?

* * *

><p>dopliss: (sweat drops) Okay, this chapter is an exception of what I said in the beginning.<p>

Mizuki: (snickering) I knew you were too lazy to write a chapter that long.

dopliss: (growling) Next time I promise I won´t do this half-assed.


	24. Chapter 24 The Forest of Death, part 6

**dopliss: Alright, guys! Christmas is nearing, the presents are bought, and now it´s time for a long chapter!**

**Mizuki: Merry Christmas!**

**Disclaimer: I do neither own Naruto nor Christmas.**

* * *

><p>Lee was still recovering from both the use of his Jutsu and now from the attack on his hearing. He felt sick and, like Kabuto, ended up throwing up. "Lee, what´s wrong?" Sakura asked in shock.<p>

Lee felt even more pain as a tinkle of blood ran down his left ear. _My… my ear… _he thought while holding his ear.

"Oh, I forgot to mention this little gadget I wear," Dosu said as he held up his arm so everyone could see the mechanical enhancement. "You might be able to dodge my blows, but you can´t get away from _it_."

"What is that thing on your arm?" Torabu asked. "I guess it´s either a metal cast or a really ugly arm warmer."

Dosu chuckled and ignored the cat-boy. "I don´t need to strike you with my fists, I can hit you with the power of sound!"

"…Sound…?" Lee asked.

"What makes it possible for the ear to hear things? What is sound really?"

"Vibrations…" Sakura answered with clenched teeth.

"Give the little lady a prize," Dosu joked. "Yes, the vibration of molecules in the air creates a sound wave. These vibrations are collected by the ear then directed to your eardrum. The human eardrum, the tympanic memory, ruptures when exposed to sound levels in excess of 150 decibels. Moreover, if the sound is powerful enough to upset the fluid within the deepest inner ear canals, it becomes impossible for you to maintain your balance." He looked directly at Lee. "Feeling a little dizzy? Nauseous? That´s right, best if you don´t try to stand up for a while."

"You see, buddy," Zaku said, "that old-fashioned Taijutsu stuff won´t work against us. Not that you´re not pretty good at it, it´s just that what´s the point? Compared to our Jutsu, that stuff is yesterday´s news." He dug his hands out of the ground and stood up and crossed his hands in front of his chest. "See, I can manipulate ultrasonic waves and air pressure. I can do things you´ve never even dreamed of. I can obliterate boulders or make the ground as soft as a feather cushion." He opened his hands and showed two holes in the middle of his palms where air blew out of! "Face it, little man – you´re up against the Jutsu of the future."

Lee growled as he remembered Guy´s words of when to use the Jutsu he had previously used and also the compliments of how proud his sensei was of him.

"Now then, little girl… it´s your turn!" Dosu shouted as he ran past Lee.

"Oh no, you don't!" Torabu said and intercepted the sound ninja. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" And then the cat-boy fired his fireball at Dosu.

"Nice try!" Zaku yelled and fired a burst of air from his palms that managed to dissolve the fireball, much to the troublemaking ninja´s shock. "Projectile attacks like that are useless against us."

"Then how about THIS?" And here Torabu activated his Chakra Claws.

"Looks like you need a nail file," the female sound ninja joked.

Torabu ran at Dosu and tried to swipe at him with his right hand, but the sound ninja dodged and punched the air next to the cat-boy. Only a few seconds later, Torabu fell to the ground, screaming in pain, clutching his ears as blood escaped them and mixed with his hair. Zaku then sent another airwave at the downed cat-boy, which sent him flying into a tree at a high speed.

"Now, back to business," Dosu said and ran towards Sakura again, right arm reeled back and ready to punch.

Sakura took a kunai from her holster and prepared to counterattack as Dosu got closer. Lee then got onto his feet, wobbly ran over to intercept Dosu, and attempted to use his Leaf Hurricane technique again, but could not due to the effects currently taking hold on him.

"Not quite as effective as before, is it?" Dosu mocked as he easily dodged the attempt at a kick. "Still, it´s impressive that you can move at all. We´ll have to do something about that!" He delivered a right punch to Lee, but the jumpsuit-wearing boy blocked the attack, which was a bad move as sound emitted from the mechanical addition on the sound ninja´s arm and hurt Lee´s ears more. "Do you hear that? This devise amplifies the vibrations of the impact, transforming them into a wave of sound. A sound wave I can channel with my chakra, focusing on any target I desire!" And here he used his chakra to make Lee´s ears hurt even more.

"STOP IT!" Sakura shrieked as Lee fell to the ground.

Torabu got up from his impact and looked at the scene with a very blurry vision. _Ow… my ears hurt… _he thought. _What´s going on…? Where are Lee and Sakura…?_

Dosu looked down at Lee. "Alright, little man," he said and reeled back his arm, "time to end it."

"That´s what you think!" Sakura said and threw several kunai at the bandaged sound ninja, only for the weapons to be blocked by his metallic tool.

"Ah~, I almost forgot about you," he said and looked directly at her.

Unbeknownst to the combatants, Team 10 had hidden behind a bush and looked at the battle. "These guys are scary," Choji said with anxiety in his voice. "I vote for getting out of here."

"Sasuke and Naruto are out of it," Shikamaru said, "and Lee´s not looking good either. It´s just Sakura and Torabu against those guys, but the cat-boy don´t look healthy." He then looked at his female teammate. "Well, what do you wanna do? Ino?"

"Why ask me, huh?" Ino replied in a silent voice, almost as if she was paralyzed.

"Well, if we don´t do something soon, they´re toast. Are you cool with that?" Ino looked at Shikamaru. "You and Sakura… you were friends once, right?"

Ino stared back at the battle in shock as she remembered her past.

* * *

><p><em>A younger Ino and Sakura sat together on a bench. "By the way, Ino… um…" Sakura said with a sad expression on her face.<em>

"_Well, what is it, Sakura? Why do you look so down?" Ino asked with a smile._

"_It´s just… I heard that you…"_

"_C´mon! What is it?" Ino cheerfully asked._

"_Well," Sakura said and looked directly at Ino, "is it true what I heard, that you like Sasuke too?"_

_Ino was shocked when she heard that. Both of them felt a dark and unfriendly wind blow. Sakura then stood up and said, "So… I guess that means… we´re rivals from now on," and then she left._

_Ino could do nothing but stare at her leaving friend._

* * *

><p><em>Get a grip, Ino! <em>Ino thought to herself. _That´s all ancient history._

"Well? Ino!" Shikamaru said to get his friend´s attention. "So, like, what do you wanna do?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?" Ino snapped. "What am I supposed to do? You want me to go out there and get myself killed?" Ino was in reality scared. _I mean, that´s all that would happen. I´d just be in the same fix she is. What good would that do, anyway?_

* * *

><p>Konran smiled as he had spotted a team with an Earth scroll in their possession. He had found cover behind a thick tree and tracked the one who held the scroll. <em>Now it is time to get what we need, <em>he thought, made hand-seals, and placed his hands on the surface he stood on.

Meanwhile, the unknowing team held a conversation. "So, why do you think they call the scrolls for Heaven and Earth?" one of them asked.

"Y´know, that´s something that´s been bothering me for a while now," another said. "Why not call the Earth scroll for the Hell scroll? I mean, it seems so much of a better choice. You know? Heaven and Hell?"

"Maybe there once was a Hell scroll," the third of them said. "Maybe, a long time ago, the test was about to get three scrolls from your opponents, and they were called the Heaven scroll, the Earth scroll, and the Hell scroll."

"Hmm… that sounds like a plausible theory," the first one said.

Before each of them knew better, a pair of hands extended out of the ground and pulled one of the ninjas down into the ground until he was waist deep in earth! "What the-?" the ninja said.

Quickly reacting, his two friends grabbed each of his arms and pulled as much as they could in order to save their friend. They succeeded and helped their friend to his feet. "Dude, are you okay?" one of them asked.

"Yeah, I´m fine, thanks," the ninja that was pulled down said.

"We might be spied upon by someone," the third of them said. "Let´s get out of here." And with that said, the team of ninjas leaped away from the area.

Konran stood up and smirked. He looked into his right hand and saw the Earth scroll that he had gotten. "While the Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu is usually used to bury your opponent to the neck, it does have some impressive uses if you know how to do them," he said aloud to himself.

"Indeed. That was quite impressive of you."

He turned around to face his masked teammate. "Ah, Sairento. Hi."

"Hi. I see that you got a scroll we need."

He nodded. "Yep. Now all we need to do is to find Torabu and get to the tower. But, of course, that depends if you was able to avoid losing our scroll."

The mute girl pulled out her scroll from her pocket and disproved her friend´s fear. "No one got to even touch it."

Konran then moved his hand up to his ear. "Time to check up on our kitty friend," he said.

* * *

><p>Sakura tried to throw shuriken at Dosu, but Zaku intercepted the projectiles´ course and used his Jutsu to blow them back past the pink-haired girl. Sakura then felt a lot of pain as the female sound ninja had managed to get behind her and grab her hair. "My, my, what soft and shiny hair," she said in a mocking voice. "But you know what? If you spent a little less time shampooing and a little more time practicing your Jutsu, you might not be in this fix." She then looked at her teammates. "Hey, Zaku, I know what would be fun. Let´s make miss beauty queen watch while you finish off that Sasuke guy."<p>

"Why not?" Zaku smirked. "Sounds like fun to me."

_You stay away from him!_ Sakura thought and tried to get free.

"Don´t even…" the female sound ninja said and pulled harder on Sakura´s hair.

Torabu recovered and ran at full speed towards the female sound ninja. "_Hey, Torabu. Do you mind telling us where you are?_" Konran´s voice sounded in his ear.

The cat-boy placed a hand over his ear and said, "I don´t have time for chitchat right now. Just follow the screams of pain."

But in that moment where he had answered his friend, Torabu got punched by Dosu in the stomach, and then the vibrations made another sound that hurt the troublemaking ninja´s hearing. Zaku then followed up by blasting the cat-boy into a tree, and this time the collision was strong enough to knock him out.

* * *

><p>Konran quickly pulled out his earphone when he heard the result of Dosu´s attack. "Ow! What was that?" he asked.<p>

"What´s going on?" Sairento asked.

"I´m not sure, but Torabu is definitely in trouble. We better get going, and fast."

And then the two were off to search for their friend.

* * *

><p><em>It´s no use… I´ve got no strength left… <em>Sakura thought as tears began rolling down her cheek and made her sob. _Way to go, Sakura… you let everybody down again… What good are you? Even now, when the others really need me, I cave… How many times have they saved my neck? You´d think that maybe, just this once, when it´s life or death… you´d think that just maybe I´d come through…_ She clutched her right hand into a fist.

"Okay," Zaku said and looked at Sasuke´s and Naruto´s resting place. "Let´s do this." And with that said, he began to slowly walk towards the unconscious boys.

Unknown to everyone, a mysterious purple chakra crept up from the mark on Sasuke´s neck.

"Man, this thing´s about to become really ugly!" Shikamaru gasped.

_What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?_ Ino thought in panic.

Sakura then gathered as much courage as she could muster, took a kunai from her holster, and held it in front of her. "Come on!" the female sound ninja groaned annoyed. "It´s pointless. That won´t work on me."

Sakura turned her head and gave her captor a smirk. "It´s not meant for you," she said and did something unbelievable.

Everyone noticing her widened their eyes as they saw Sakura use the kunai to cut the hair that the female sound ninja hold off. Especially Ino was shocked as some of Sakura´s hair around the cut area fell off, along with her headband.

_I´ve always considered myself… to be a true ninja… _Sakura thought. _I´ve claimed that I´m madly in love with Sasuke… and I´m always lecturing Naruto… acting like I know so much more… but it´s all empty words. Because they´re always in the lead… and I watched them from the background. Why is that…? _Memories of her time together with her teammates then flashed by her. The time where Tazuna got attacked by the Demon Brothers and how Sasuke had to protect her. The first fight against Zabuza and how Naruto showed will, courage and determination. _No matter what, they were always there, those two… protecting me. And that´s not to say that Torabu and the others haven´t been superior to me… And, Lee, you did more than saying you like me… you proved it… We´re not even teammates and you put your life on the line for me… All this time, you´ve all been teaching me something… _"It´s about time I start learning!" she said determined and stood up. _Okay… no more caving! Now it´s my turn to take the lead! And all of you can watch _me _from the background!_

Ino just looked at her rival in awe.

"Sakura… be careful…" Lee managed to say before he passed out.

"Kin, finish her!" Zaku ordered.

The female sound ninja, Kin, nodded, took out some needles from her pocket, and turned towards Sakura. The pink-haired girl was in the meantime doing some hand-seals.

_I know that hand-seal, _Zaku thought and narrowed his eyes.

Kin leaped at Sakura and stabbed her in the back, only for her to turn into a log. "A Replacement Jutsu!" Kin realized.

_You think you can fool me with that lame Ninjutsu? _Zaku thought while preparing himself. _I´m onto you. In fact, I´m way ahead of you._

Sakura then appeared and ran towards Zaku. "Kin, get out of the way!" the latter yelled. His teammate did as told, and Sakura threw several kunai in his direction. "Pathetic! Thanks for the present, hope you don´t mind if I return it!"

Sakura stopped and made hand-seals again.

"Slicing Sound Wave!" Zaku shouted and fired a burst of air from his palms that sent the kunai back at Sakura, who was replaced by a log again. "What a surprise. Okay, where are you now?"

Zaku looked up and saw Sakura up in the air and doing more hand-seals.

"You really wanna keep playin´ this? `Cos I got news for ya – I´m not falling for it!" Zaku then pulled out some of his own kunai and threw them at her. "Alright, if you insist!"

Sakura crossed her arms in front of her to block the kunai, which hit her in the right thigh, left shin, right hip, and right forearm!

Zaku, not convinced about the signs of blood that appeared on his opponent´s body, looked around. "Okay, so where are you coming from next?" he asked. He then felt something liquid-like hit his cheek, and when he realized it was blood, he looked up and saw Sakura closing in on him, kunai in her left arm. _This time, it´s really her!_

Sakura crashed into Zaku, stabbed him in his right forearm, and forced him onto his back. She then bit down hard on his left arm in order to render it useless, much to everyone´s surprise. Zaku then used his right arm to repeatedly hit Sakura on the head. "What are you, crazy or something?" he asked while hitting her. "Get offa me!"

But no matter how many times Zaku hit her, she still held onto him with her teeth.

Ino just stared in flat-out shock as she remembered more from her past.

* * *

><p><em>The sound of crying could be heard throughout a playground in Konoha. A young Sakura sat down on the sand and cried.<em>

"_Hey, aren´t you the one they´re always teasing ´cause you got such a big forehead?"_

_Sakura looked and saw Ino, also younger than now, sitting in front of her. This was the first time they ever met. "W-Who are you?" Sakura asked while sobbing._

"_Who, me? Oh, that´s easy. My name is Ino Yamanaka. Who are you?"_

"_My name´s… Sakura…" the pink-haired girl mumbled._

"_Huh? Hello~! I can´t hear you. Let´s try that again, okay? Who are you?"_

"_My name is Sakura!" she yelled, thinking that this girl also was there to tease her._

"_That´s better," Ino said and placed her finger on Sakura´s forehead. "So this is the famous forehead, huh? Whoa! It is kinda big. So that´s why you hide it with your bangs?" Sakura looked away as Ino brushed the bangs away from her forehead. "That´s dumb. It just makes it worse. Makes you look like a sheepdog." When she saw more tears in Sakura´s eyes, Ino got an idea. "So you´re Sakura, huh?" she asked with a smile._

"_Uh-huh…" Sakura nodded._

_Ino stood up and turned away. "Hey, you know what? I´ve got something special for you. Come back here tomorrow, okay?" And then she left Sakura in wonder._

* * *

><p>"Somebody get this crazy girl offa me!" Zaku yelled as he kept hitting Sakura, bruises already starting to show on her head.<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>There! See? What an improvement! You look a lot better," Ino said to Sakura. She had given Sakura a red ribbon and tied her hair with it so that her forehead could be framed by her hair. "You can keep that ribbon."<em>

"_Oh… thanks…" Sakura was at a loss for words. "…But…"_

"_Huh? But what?" Ino asked, confused by the girl´s sudden protest._

"…_My forehead…"_

_Ino groaned. "Oh, come on! I´m telling you, the more you try to hide it, the bigger deal you make of it!" Sakura was shocked when she heard that. "And your face isn´t that bad. Actually, it´s a pretty good face, you just have to be more confident."_

_The two then walked over to another part of the playground and met some of Ino´s friends. "Hi, Ino!" one of them said._

"_Hey, who´s that you´re with? Who is she?" another asked._

"_This is Sakura," Ino said with a smile and turned to look at her pink-haired friend. "Go on. Don´t you wanna say hello?"_

_Sakura smiled and shyly hid behind Ino. "Um, hi…" she softly said._

* * *

><p>"GET HER OFF!" Zaku yelled. Sakura was starting to bleed now.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Sakura came running up to Ino and her friends. "Hey, everyone!" she said excitedly. "I´ve got something to tell you! It´s a secret! You´ll never guess who I like! Not in a million years!"<em>

"_How about you just tell us?" one of Ino´s friends asked._

"_Yeah, just please don´t say it´s Sasuke," another said._

_Sakura then had a look of surprise on her face. "How did you know?" she asked._

"_Take a number. Sasuke´s, like, only the most popular guy ever, that´s all!" one of them said._

"_He is?" Sakura asked. "Oh… I guess that means I´ve got a lot of competition."_

"_Whoa, what a change," one of the girls close to Ino said. "Sakura´s really come out of her shell, hasn´t she?"_

_Ino just looked away, displeased that her new friend has a crush on the same boy as she does. "Sometimes, I wish she would crawl back in," she mumbled._

* * *

><p>Ino was still paralyzed with shock. Sakura had once told her that Sasuke likes girls with long hair, and now Sakura has shortened her own. And as she kept looking at Sakura´s beating, she remembered something that happened just the day they both became ninjas.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Sakura and Ino – now looking like they do now – stood in front of each other. "Well, well, I see someone´s grown their hair long," the latter said.<em>

"_Looks like I´m not the only one," Sakura retorted._

"_If you think being on the same team as him is gonna make him like you, you´re wrong!" Ino said while glaring at her rival who glared back at her._

"_Face it, Ino – I´m gonna win."_

"_Oh, you think so? Sakura… I will never let you beat me, no matter how hard you try."_

* * *

><p>Ino was starting to get tears in her eyes as she stared at her rival´s brutal punishment. Finally, after having punched Sakura for long, Zaku managed to get the girl off of him and away from him.<p>

He stood up and said, "Now you´re gonna pay!"

"Oh, man! This is bad!" Choji nervously said.

"Well, Ino?" Shikamaru impatiently asked.

Sakura struggled to sit up and turned to look at Zaku. _It´s all on me… there´s no one else…_ she thought.

"Say 'so long', kid!" Zaku growled and aimed his arms at her.

Sakura was sure that that was it. That her life would end right then and there-

-until Team 10 jumped out of the bushes and stood in front of Sakura, protecting her. Both Sakura and the sound ninjas were surprised that help has arrived.

Zaku smirked and asked, "So, what´s this, the second string?"

"Ino…" Sakura gasped.

"Surprised?" Ino asked. "I swore I´d never let you show me up, didn´t I?"

* * *

><p><em>Sasuke opened his eyes and looked around. He was surrounded by golden autumn leaves, no matter where he looked. <em>What is this? Where am I?_ he thought as he kept looking around. He then spotted someone standing a little distance away from him. First he wondered who the person was, but after seeing the bluish-black hair and the angry expression, he realized that it was him when he was younger._

"_Father and mother shouldn´t have died!" the young Sasuke said in a strained voice. "It didn´t have to happen!" The scenery then changed to a house with the corpses of a man and a woman lying on the floor. "They´re all dead… because I wasn´t strong enough to save them! My whole clan has been destroyed…"_

* * *

><p>More of the purple chakra seeped out of Sasuke´s unconscious body.<p>

"These Konoha worms will be sorry they squirmed into something that doesn´t concern them," Dosu said and glared at Team 10, which made Choji more scared than he already was.

"Are you two crazy? What´re we doing here?" the big boned boy asked his teammates. "These guys are bad news, man!"

"Don´t look at me, it was Ino´s idea," Shikamaru defended. "But what´re we supposed to do, just sit back and let a girl do all the fighting?"

Ino chuckled and said, "Sorry for dragging you both into this, but we ARE a three-man squad, right? All for one and one for all!"

"Yeah," Shikamaru smirked. "What´s meant to happen, will!"

"This ain´t teamwork! I call this suicide!" Choji panicked and tried to run away, but Shikamaru held a tight grip on his scarf. "Let me outta here! Please!"

"Stop mewling! You´re getting on my nerves!" Shikamaru growled.

Zaku chuckled. "Better a live sheep than a dead lion… right, fatso?" he asked Choji.

Choji immediately stopped moving and pleading to be released from his friend´s grasp. "Did I just hear that right?" he asked, eerily calm. "What did that guy just say?"

_Uh-oh! He just pushed Choji´s button big time!_ Shikamaru thought and widened his eyes.

"You wanna try to say that again?" Choji asked Zaku.

"I said you´re smart to get out while you still can, fatty," Zaku repeated.

An eerie silence then passed, before Choji turned around, a face of pure rage on his head, and shouted, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT? I´M JUST A LITTLE CHUBBY, OKAY?" He then made a huge battle cry to prove his anger, but Sakura could just look at the scene with a stunned expression on her face. Choji then turned to his teammates and yelled, "That does it! Now this is personal! It´s a fight to the death between leaf and sound!"

And as fires of rage blazed in Choji´s eyes, Ino could not help but smile. _Perfect, he´s totally lost it._

"Good job," Shikamaru sarcastically said to Zaku. "Thanks a lot. Now we gotta live with him."

"Don´t worry, it won´t be for long," Zaku assured. _We´ve gotta get rid of these clowns! Sasuke´s the target!_

Sakura looked back at her two unconscious teammates, completely unaware of the purple aura. "Sasuke…" she said under her breath.

"Sakura!" Ino said. "Your teammates are down. Look after them." Sakura nodded and stepped back. "Okay, Team Ino, let´s show ´em who´s boss!"

"Got it!" Shikamaru and Choji agreed.

Team 10 then said together, "Formation: Ino-Shika-Cho!"

"Okay, take it away, Choji!" Ino said as her big boned friend stepped up to fight.

"My pleasure!" Choji said and made hand-seals. "Expansion Jutsu!" And then his body swelled up to the size of a boulder! "Followed by leaf style Taijutsu!" And then Choji´s head, arms and legs retracted into his body as steam-like chakra burst out of the now-empty holes. "Human Boulder Jutsu!" Choji shouted as his body rolled at high speed at Zaku!

Zaku, however, was not feeling threatened. "You gotta be kiddin´!" he said. "Am I supposed to laugh myself to death?" And then he used his Slicing Sound Wave technique to stop Choji from coming any closer, though he still rolled on.

Everyone was pretty impressed at how Choji could keep rolling despite the huge air pressure that Zaku made. Choji then grinded to a halt and managed to jump over the airstream! Zaku´s eyes widened as he saw the incoming human boulder. _This thing´s spinning way too fast! My Sound Wave can´t control it! And if I try going supersonic on it… it´s liable to rip my arms off!_

Seeing his teammate in danger, Dosu ran at Zaku, but Shikamaru would have none of that. _Oh no, you don´t, mummy man, _he thought and made a hand-seal. _Time to put you into wraps._ "Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!" And with that said, Shikamaru´s shadow extended and managed to reach Dosu´s feet.

Dosu then unwillingly stopped instantly. "What´s happening?" he asked when he noticed a smirking Shikamaru.

"Just me and my shadow," the lazy boy simply said.

Zaku managed to jump away just at the last second before Choji crashed.

Kin saw Dosu make a weird pose and shouted, "What is it? Why are you just standing there like that?" It was then she noticed Shikamaru in that exact same pose.

"It´s some kind of paralysis Jutsu…!" Dosu growled as he was unable to move.

"Ino, I leave the girl to you," Shikamaru said.

"Okay, you got it!" Ino replied. "Just take care of my body when I´m gone!"

"Sure," Shikamaru replied as Ino made hand-seals.

"Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Ino shouted.

Choji was on the roll again (´scuse the pun) and was trying his best to hit Zaku, who kept dodging. "I´ve had enough of this!" the latter growled and turned to his female teammate. "Kin!"

But as Ino fell limp in Shikamaru´s arms, Kin seemed to have changed slightly. "What´s wrong with you?" Dosu shouted.

Kin then looked up with a smirk on her mouth, took a kunai, and held it at her throat. "Party´s over, fellas!" she said. "Take it easy. One false move from either of you, and your teammate here gets it in the neck. You don´t want that to happen, so here´s what you do: You drop the scroll and walk away. When you are far enough away that I can´t sense your chakras, I´ll let her go." Strangely enough for Ino, who was controlling Kin´s body, both Zaku and Dosu smirked at her. _I don´t get these guys. Something´s wrong._ "Hey, Choji!"

Choji came rolling in just in the nick of time, as Zaku had raised one of his arms and fired a blast at Kin. Choji managed to block it, but the impact with him managed to knock Kin into a tree, which caused Ino to drool a little blood.

"This is bad!" Shikamaru said with eyes wide.

Choji had turned back into his normal form and was both gagging and dizzy. "I don´t feel so good…" he groaned.

Kin struggled to get up and looked at the other sound ninjas. "I… I don´t understand you guys. What kind of monsters would attack their own teammate?"

"I guess… monsters like us," Zaku said.

"You see, we don´t play this game by your rules," Dosu said. "It´s not the scrolls we´re after nor even passing this test."

"Then what?" Kin asked.

Dosu´s answer was just one word: "Sasuke."

Sadly for Shikamaru, his shadow retracted back to normal, stopping the Jutsu. _I hate it when it does that!_

Dosu, now able to move again, said, "So, your paralysis Jutsu has a pretty limited duration, I see."

"Shadow Possession Jutsu," Shikamaru corrected. "Get your Jutsus right."

"Whatever. And I see that your teammate is able to slip her soul into her opponent. Very clever, but dangerous. Anything that happens to Kin, happens to her too. So if, say, Kin would die…"

"What´re you gonna do, kill your teammate?" Shikamaru asked.

Zaku aimed his left palm at Kin and said, "Well, if push comes to shove… yeah."

Shikamaru sighed. "Oh, man, what a drag!"

"Yeah, no kiddin´," Choji said.

"Did you really think you could beat us?" Zaku asked. "Face it – you ninjas are just a bunch of hacks."

"…From a second-rate village," Dosu added.

"Huh? That´s pretty tough talk."

The sound ninjas turned around and saw Neji and Tenten up on a tree branch. "I guess that makes your village third-rate," the former of the two said. "I wonder if any of you amateurs are ready to take on the real thing."

"What?" Dosu growled insulted as everyone still conscious turned to look at them.

Tenten then spotted her missing teammate. "Lee!" she gasped.

"You blew it," Neji said to his unconscious teammate.

_These genin keep popping out of the woods like cockroaches, _Dosu thought.

"It looks to me that someone used our teammate as a punching bag," Neji said. "No one does that and gets away with it!" And then the veins both in and around his eyes bulged, meaning that he had activated his Byakugan.

Dosu realized something while Neji scanned the conscious competitors. _His eyes! He´s not just looking at us, he´s seeing through us!_

"No more playing around, Tenten," Neji said. "Full power!" Suddenly, he stopped using his Byakugan.

Tenten took notice of this and asked, "What´s the matter? Neji?"

Neji had noticed a very weird chakra.

"Well?" Dosu asked. "Are you gonna stand up there all day, or are you gonna come down here and do something about it?"

Neji smirked. "Actually, it looks like it might´ve been taken out of my hands."

Everyone was confused, until all sans Sakura looked at Sasuke and the massive purple chakra surrounding him.

* * *

><p><em>Sasuke stared as his younger self clutched his head with both hands. "…Because I was weak… everyone died! I couldn´t save them!" the young Sasuke sobbed. "If only I´d been stronger… if only I had power…" Sasuke then stared in shock as his younger self stared directly at him with a sick grin and his left hand up to his eye. "Instead, you stood by and watched them die… So helpless… like lambs to the slaughter. If only you were stronger…" Sasuke felt much fear when his younger self ripped the skin around his eye away, revealing Orochimaru´s eye. "If only you had more power…"<em>

* * *

><p>Sasuke then suddenly stood up. "Sasuke! You´re awake!" Sakura happily cheered, but her expression changed when she saw the purple chakra around him. Team 10 and Sakura felt fear as Sasuke stood straight up, markings all across his skin glowing in a magma-like color.<p>

"Sakura… who did this to you…?" Sasuke asked when he witnessed the scene, his Sharingan activated and the markings turning into a deep black color. "Who was it…?"

_Those marks… they´re all over his body! _Dosu thought in fear.

"Sasuke, wh-what´s happened to you?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke looked at his left palm, before answering, "Don´t worry, I´m alright. It´s only the power flowing through me. In fact, I´ve never felt better. He gave me this gift." The last sentence was referring to Orochimaru biting him. "And he made me understand what I am. I´m an avenger. To follow my path, I must have power. At any prize. Even if it means being consumed by evil."

Dosu finally realized what this meant. _Now I see… Those marks on the neck that the girl spoke of… they were a curse mark! But who´d have thought he´d survive? More than survive?_

"Sakura, tell me," Sasuke said sternly. "Which one of these people did this to you?"

"That´d be me," Zaku gloated, earning himself the full attention of Sasuke.

"INO!" Shikamaru yelled. "Hurry up and get back in your body! You don´t wanna get involved with this! You too, Choji! C´mon! Get out of there!"

"I´m coming!" Choji said as he and Shikamaru hid in some bushes.

"Mind Transfer: Release!" Kin said and lost consciousness, Ino´s soul returning to her body.

"Atta girl. Good to have you back," Shikamaru said when he noticed signs of movement on Ino.

"Shikamaru, what´s this all about?" Choji asked. "What´s going on?"

"How should I know?"

Sasuke glared at Zaku as the markings on his body spread even more across him. Dosu was simply shocked. "W-What is this?" _This changes everything! His chakra… it´s too big! Too powerful! We can´t fight that!_

"Dosu!" Zaku said as he made hand-seals. "What´s wrong? You´re not getting´ cold feet, are ya?"

"No! Zaku! You don´t understand!"

"Watch this! I´ll take care of all of them in one fell swoop!" Zaku said and held both palms towards Sasuke and his friends. "Supersonic Slicing Wave!" And then a massive burst of air erupted from his palms and totaled everything in its way! It was so strong that everyone around had to shield themselves from the blast.

When the burst stopped, Zaku panted as he looked at the blasted field in front of him. "Heh! What do ya know… blew ´em all away!" he said.

"Not quite."

Zaku did not have time to turn around before he was backhanded and sent flying by Sasuke. When he landed, Zaku coughed and got up.

"Such speed!" Dosu marveled. "He managed to get both him and his teammates out of harm's way in a blink of an eye!"

Sasuke turned away from Sakura and Naruto and stared at Zaku. He then made hand-seals and shouted, "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" and fired several fireballs at Zaku.

Zaku used his Jutsu to extinguish the flames, but that was a bad move since Sasuke had shuriken hidden in the fireballs, which all hit Zaku and cut him severely!

"ZAKU! Get down!" Dosu shouted, but for little use.

Sasuke managed to use his new-found great speed to get behind Zaku, and then grabbed both of his arms and placed his right foot onto his back, forcing him to his knees. Sasuke then made a very gleeful smile as he started pulling the caught arms. "You seem very proud of those arms of yours," he said. "You must be very _attached _to them!"

Zaku realized in horror what Sasuke was going to do. "NO! What´re you doing?" he shouted.

Sasuke just smiled wider, and everyone around him was horrified when he broke the sound ninja´s arms! Sasuke let go of Zaku and turned his head to look at Dosu. "It looks like you´re the only one left," he said and fully turned to face him. "I hope you make things more interesting than your friend did." And then he started walking towards the remaining sound ninja.

Dosu shivered in fear as he watched his death close in on him. Sakura stared at Sasuke, but could not believe that this was the boy she knows so well. She did believe one thing, though – that was not Sasuke. Eyes leaking tears and scared out of her wits, she ran up to Sasuke and grabbed him in a tight hug from behind. "Don´t do it!" she cried. Sasuke turned to look at her and saw the tears that ran down her eyes. "Stop…! Please…!"

Dosu then noticed that the marks on Sasuke´s body were disappearing and returning to his neck. _The marks are receding… We´re safe… for now._

Sasuke, all out of energy, fell onto his behind and panted heavily. Sakura looked worriedly at her crush.

"You´re strong, Sasuke," Dosu commended. "Too strong. We can´t hope to defeat you the way you are now." He then walked over to pick up his unconscious teammates. "It would seem we underestimated you, but at least we found out what we needed to know. For the moment, we´re even. But should we ever meet again in combat, I promise you… we won´t run or hide." He then turned to leave.

"Wait!" Sakura shouted. "Who is this Orochimaru, anyway? What´s he done to Sasuke? And why Sasuke?"

"I don´t know," Dosu answered. "All I know is that we were to target Sasuke, and we did. I don´t know why he sent us to assassinate someone on whom he bestowed such powers. I don´t know why Sasuke even _survived_ the curse mark. There are many things I don´t know." And then he walked away.

"Hey! You guys okay?" Choji asked as he and the rest of his team ran up to them.

"Ino, you look after Lee and Torabu! We´ll check out the kid," Shikamaru said, referring to Naruto in the last statement.

"Right!" Ino agreed as she ran over to the other unconscious genin.

Neji and Tenten still stood on the branch, the former having his eyes fixed on Sasuke. _I had no idea the Uchiha clan was so strong. But that wasn´t normal chakra… _

Naruto, still unconscious, said, "Sakura´s in danger… I´ll protect her… Don´t worry, Sakura, it´s okay. I´ll save you…"

"Whoa, somebody ought to kick him to wake him up," Shikamaru groaned. "This is embarrassing."

"Can I kick him first?" Choji asked.

Sasuke stared at his left hand in fear of the powers he had possessed earlier. "Just what… am I?" he asked himself.

Now that the sound ninjas are defeated, our heroes might be safe from any evil forces. But will Sasuke ever get to control his new power? Will the rest of Team 6 get to rejoin with Torabu, and what is the cat-boy´s fate? And most importantly, without a scroll, is Team 7 now disqualified?

* * *

><p>dopliss: HA! Told ya I´d make a longer chapter this time!<p>

Mizuki: Maybe, but you forgot something.

dopliss: Whadda ya mean?

Mizuki: In the original series, Dosu gave his scroll to Team 7 in order to save his own hide.

dopliss: Well… let´s just say that you have to read on to find out!


	25. Chapter 25 The Forest of Death, part 7

**dopliss: Merry Christmas, guys!**

**Mizuki: Hope you got some great gifts!**

**dopliss: This chapter might be shorter than the last one, but you´ll understand why.**

**Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say that I don´t own Naruto?**

* * *

><p><em>Naruto was in deep trouble. Sasuke was unconscious, Sakura was heavily wounded behind him, and Orochimaru, still in his grass ninja disguise, was coming at full speed at him. Naruto was completely paralyzed in shock as the villainous psychopath came close and stabbed him with a kunai…<em>

* * *

><p>"GHAAAAAA!" Naruto screamed as he sat up, awake and in pain. Shikamaru and Choji had apparently held true to their words and decided that waking Naruto with pain was the best solution. But instead of having kicked him, Choji had found a branch and used it to whack the sleeping boy in the head, causing a big cartoony bump to appear.<p>

Naruto then regained his senses and looked around, confused as to why he was no longer up in the trees. When he spotted Sakura and Sasuke sitting together and Ino standing near Torabu´s unconscious body with Rock Lee slung over her shoulder, he realized something. _The grass ninja! _He quickly threw himself down onto the ground and shouted, "Everybody, hide! Quick, get down!" He then looked around. "That ninja… where could she be hiding?"

The others then noticed that their fellow genin was awake and looked at him. _Ugh, it´s about time the lazy fool woke up, _Ino mentally groaned.

Choji then poked Naruto´s sore head while Shikamaru said, "You really are one of a kind, that´s for sure. And I mean you´re the kind that gets on my nerves."

Naruto glared at him before he looked back at his two teammates and saw something that shocked him. "Oh no! Sakura!" he said and ran over to her.

"What?" the pink-haired girl asked as her friend came to a sliding stop in front of her.

"Something terrible has happened to your hair!" the yellow-haired boy said.

"Oh, that´s all?" Sakura asked relieved. "I just wanted to… change my look." Ino knew that she was lying. "I like it better long, but when I´m out in the wilderness like this and I´m moving around all the time, it gets in the way too much."

Naruto nodded in naïve understanding and looked back at Shikamaru and Choji, who had moved closer to Team 7. "So what´s your story?" he asked. "Why are you guys here, in the first place? What´s going on around here?"

"Explaining everything to you is gonna be such a pain," Shikamaru sighed.

"Everyone… just shoved up to help," Sakura explained, summing up the entire event.

_Sakura sure is putting on a face, _Ino thought with a small smile.

Then Tenten jumped down and landed in front of the blonde girl. "I´ll take care of him now, Ino," she said, referring to Lee.

"The same thing we´d like to say."

Upon hearing the voice, everyone looked up and saw Sairento and Konran standing on a tree branch. "Do not mind us, we are just here to pick up our cat and get on moving," the latter said, referring to the cat-boy.

As Ino handed Lee over to his teammate, she said, "Good luck waking him. I´ve tried everything."

Tenten´s method of waking her teammate, however, was holding him by the shoulders and shaking him wildly while yelling, "Come on, Lee! Pull it together! Snap out of it, already!"

The rude way of awakening seemed to be a success, as Lee woke up and looked at his female teammate, who had let go of him. "Tenten, is that you?" he groggily asked. "What´re you doing here?"

"I came to help you out, what do you think?" she answered calmly.

Lee then looked around. "Where are the sound ninjas?"

"Sasuke took care of them. Don´t worry about them, Lee."

"Really?" Lee asked and looked over at Sasuke.

"Just what were you thinking, rushing in here all by yourself? Look at you. You´re a total mess."

Lee looked down. "Well, Sakura was in trouble, so… I had to do something, right?"

Tenten frowned and thought, _He´s gotta be kidding. He had to know he didn´t stand a chance against those guys alone. _"That was pretty damn stupid, don´t you think?"

"Well… I guess I can´t really argue with that…" Lee sheepishly admitted.

The two unharmed members of Team 6 hovered over the unconscious Torabu. "Got any ideas?" Konran asked.

The mute girl took out a meat bun from her backpack and held it inches away from the cat-boy´s nose. The troublemaking ninja took a few sniffs of the aroma from the edible object. "…I know that scent…" he mumbled in his sleep. "…Store-bought from Ichiraku…"

"Yes… that is right…" Konran whispered.

"…Round… a meat bun… completely clean of any kinds of spice…"

"True… true…"

"And the flavor… it´s…"

Konran smirked as he delivered the word that his friend was searching for: "Pork."

In a matter of mere nanoseconds, Torabu woke up, took the bun out of his teammate´s hand, leaped two meters away from everyone, and ate the edible object as if it was his first meal in weeks, tail lashing wildly with happiness. Once he had eaten, he stood up and said, "Ah~, there´s nothing better than a great breakfast."

"Good to see you are awake," Konran said as he and Sairento walked over to the cat-boy.

"Hold still," the mute girl ordered as she used her healing technique on her teammate.

Naruto caught sight of Lee, walked over to him, and said, "Aha! I know you, Bushy Brows!"

Upon hearing the jumpsuit-wearing boy getting teased, Sakura exploded. "Hey! Knock it off! You better not say anything bad about Lee!" she shouted and delivered a very strong punch to Naruto´s face, sending him flying.

_What in the world happened while I was asleep? _Naruto confusedly asked himself. _Everything´s gone crazy._

"That Naruto is completely outta the loop," Shikamaru sighed.

"So far outta the loop he doesn´t even know there is a loop," Choji added. "He´s not gonna believe this little story."

"Lee…" Sakura said once she had calmed down and was facing the boy, "thank you… Because of you, I was able to stand up for myself. And I´ve become a little stronger." She then smiled at him.

Lee´s eyes immediately started to water. "Thank you, Sakura…" he said and wiped his eyes. "But, I guess my efforts alone were not strong enough." He then looked at Sasuke, who had also moved up to him. "So, Sasuke… you are as good as your reputation… just what you would expect from the Uchiha clan. To chase off those ninjas, you must be very strong. Not like me, I just got beaten to a pulp."

Sasuke´s eyes widened in shock when he heard that. _What´s he talking about, 'beaten to a pulp'? Is he serious? Were those guys really that strong?_

"Sakura…" Lee said, returning his attention back to the pink-haired girl. "The Konoha lotus blooms twice." He smiled. "When we meet again, I will have become a stronger ninja. I promise."

Sakura smiled in response to the kind words. Naruto was still very confused as to what could have happened. And Torabu, who had listened to what Lee had said, could not help but smile.

"Hey, Sakura!" Ino called, gaining her rival´s attention. "Come on over here. I wanna fix your hair for you, okay?"

"Yeah, I´d like that," Sakura smiled.

Torabu, now fully healed, stretched every muscle in his body. "So, Sai, still got the scroll?" he asked.

"First, explain what the hell happened here," the mute girl ordered.

As the cat-boy told his story, Ino was busy giving Sakura a proper haircut with a kunai. "Why, you sneaky little troll," the former of the two girls growled. "Hugging him like that… Billboard Brow!"

"Haven´t you heard the expression 'all´s fair in love and war', Ino-Pig?" Sakura growled back.

Meanwhile, Neji still stood up on the tree branch and still had his mind focused on Sasuke. _Sasuke Uchiha… _he thought. _He´s a stronger opponent than I could´ve imagined._

"By the way, who got the scroll?" Naruto asked his teammates.

Torabu then looked depressingly at his best friend. "Naruto…" he said, gaining the boy´s attention. "That ninja burned your scroll."

The news hit Naruto like a solid brick. "WHAT?" he screamed. "Does that mean we´ve failed the exam? No way!"

"That means less competition," Sairento stated with no hint of compassion in her voice. "Well, anyway, do we have both scrolls?"

"I got one right here!" both Torabu and Konran said and showed their Earth scrolls at the same time, which came as a surprise to the team. "You also got a scroll?" they both asked each other.

"We only need one," the mute girl calmly said. "Throw the other one away."

The cat-boy then had a bright idea. "I know what to do with this." He then turned to face his other friends. "Naruto! Catch!" And then he threw the scroll.

Naruto caught the scroll and looked dumbstruck at his friend. "You´re giving the scroll to us? Just like that?" he asked.

"No way you´re outta the exams just ´cause of some snake-freak," the troublemaking ninja smirked. "We made a promise, and I´ll be damned before you´re breaking it."

Naruto could not resist either smiling or letting a few tears of joy emerge. "Torabu, you´re the best!" he exclaimed. He then looked at the mute girl and asked, "Hey, could you heal us, please?"

"Don´t push your luck," Sairento answered coldly, already displeased with the fact that her teammate just helped the 'enemy' back onto their feet.

"See ya at the tower!" Torabu said, gave a two-finger salute, and walked away with his teammates.

After a while, Sairento asked, "So, who was that 'snake-freak' you mentioned?"

"Just some creep named Orochimaru," Torabu bitterly answered.

Konran immediately froze in place, eyes widened in shock. The mute girl took notice of this and asked, "Are you okay, Konran?"

It took a few seconds, but Konran recovered and said, "No, I´m fine, don´t worry." After having said that, they casually walked onwards, but Konran was very shocked, even though he did not show that. _Orochimaru? Here? I don´t believe it! How the hell did he come here unnoticed?_

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, somewhere else, Team 8 was gathered at a clearing. Strangely, Akamaru was whimpering and was shaking in absolute fear. "Hey, Akamaru, you okay?" Kiba asked and petted the dog´s head.<p>

"Is he still shaking?" Shino asked. "He has been at it for half a day, already."

"Akamaru…" Hinata said concerned and looked pitifully at the dog.

"I don´t blame him," Kiba said. "Not after what happened. It´s because of what he saw."

* * *

><p><em>Earlier, when Team 8 just had gotten their needed scroll, they were leaping through the trees. "Ha-ha! I knew we´d be the ones to survive this!" Kiba cockily exclaimed. "Right, Akamaru?" The dog yipped in response. "Of course, it´s lucky for us that the people caught in that trap had an Earth scroll! And now, we´re gonna be the first ones to reach the tower!"<em>

"_Don´t get overconfident, that´s a dangerous mistake to make," Shino warned. "No matter how small a bug is, it still has to defend itself at all times. We have to make sure we don´t encounter any enemies. That´s the only way to be safe."_

"_Yeah, I know that, Shino, but as usual, you gotta say it in a vague way. Bug nerd."_

_Shino growled when he heard the insult._

"_Yeah, but, Kiba," Hinata said. "What Shino said, he does kinda have a point, you know."_

"_Yeah, I know! Just come on!" the canine boy said impatiently._

I sure hope that nothing bad has happened to Naruto out here, _the shy girl thought._

_Both Kiba and Akamaru then smelled something and stopped on a branch. "Hold on, guys, we have to stop," the boy said._

"_Why?" asked Shino when both he and Hinata stopped._

"_We´re being careful not to encounter any enemies, right?" Kiba asked and pointed in a direction. "Alright, Hinata. I want you to check out a kilomiter ahead in that direction."_

_Hinata nodded and made a hand-seal. "Here goes. Byakugan!" And then the veins in and around her eyes started bulging, enhancing her vision. "Yes, there´s somebody there, alright," she said._

_Shino placed his head on the branch and tried to listen through the vibrations in the earth. "It sounds like there are… six people there," he said._

"_Alright, let´s check it out!" Kiba said, much to his teammates´ surprise._

"_Kiba, what´re you talking about?" Shino asked. "We´re not going to do that!"_

"_Why not? The test administrator said that we had to get both a Heaven and an Earth scroll, right? But she didn´t say we couldn´t take more than that. If we get more scrolls, there would be fewer to go around. And that means other teams would be cut from the competition." And then Kiba laughed._

"_B-But…" Hinata protested._

"_Look, first we´ll just check it out, okay? If it looks too dangerous, we won´t battle them. Now, c´mon! Let´s go!" And then he leaped off in the direction the people were it._

"_He´s the kind of guy that even the hungriest of insects would avoid," Shino mumbled and followed his teammate, Hinata following behind him._

_When they had arrived at the place, they had hidden behind some bushes. That was when they noticed that Akamaru was trembling. "What´s wrong, Akamaru?" Kiba asked._

"_What happened?" Hinata asked. "You just stopped, all of a sudden."_

_The little dog then crawled up underneath his owner´s shirt, while Kiba explained, "Yeah, something just spooked the little guy."_

"_What scared him?"_

"_I have no idea. Akamaru has the ability to sniff out the level of an enemy´s chakra. But man, I´ve never seen him this scared by it before. Whoever those ninjas up ahead are, they aren´t normal guys."_

_The six ninjas that Team 8 noticed were none other than a team of waterfall ninjas and the three sand ninjas. "Do you believe the nerve of these sand village ninjas, Shigure," one of the waterfall ninjas asked his team leader. "Challenging us head on?"_

"_Yeah, they´re a buncha fools!" the other waterfall ninja agreed._

_Team 8 stared at the scene with curious eyes as Gaara glared at his opponents. "What is he thinking?" Kiba asked. "That guy is way too little to take on an opponent who is that big."_

_Akamaru then growled something to his owner, who understood and narrowed his eyes in worry. "What did Akamaru say?" Hinata asked._

"_That that big guy… he is big trouble."_

_Hinata looked at the scene in fear. _They all look like they´re bad news to me… like they´re really strong, _she thought._

_The biggest of the waterfall ninjas, Shigure, said to Gaara and his teammates, "Too bad, kids. You should´ve picked your opponents better. Now you´re all gonna die!"_

"_I´ve heard enough out of you," Gaara said. "Let´s make this quick. I don´t wanna waste time on this guy." The statement obviously annoyed Shigure._

We don´t even know which scroll these guys have, _Kankuro thought. "Hey, Gaara, doesn´t it make more sense to follow these punks and gather information first?" he asked. "I mean, if they have the same type of scroll as us, we´re just fighting an unnecessary battle."_

"_I don´t care," the red-haired boy said sternly. "They looked at me the wrong way… so they´re gonna die." That statement shocked everyone around him._

This is exactly why I didn´t wanna get stuck in the forest with him, _Kankuro thought._

"_If you think you can kill us, then try it!" Shigure dared as he drew five umbrellas similar to the ones Iruka had used against our heroes in his disguise. He threw them all up into the air and made a hand-seal. "And now… Ninja Art: Senbon Rainstorm!" he shouted. Then the umbrellas all started spinning fast and spread out hundreds of needles that all flew around Gaara, trapping him! "Up, down, left, right… No matter where you go, I´d get you! There´s no blind spot in this Jutsu and it is deadly accurate!"_

_The needles then all flew towards Gaara and hit their target, creating a massive cloud of dust where he stood! When the dust cleared, however, much to everyone´s surprise, a giant mass of sand had surrounded Gaara, protecting him from the needles! A crack in the shield was open so that the red-haired boy could glare at his stunned opponent. "Is that all you can do?" he asked._

"_It can´t be! Not a single wound!" Shigure gasped. "Impossible!" He then tried to send more needles at Gaara, but more sand emerged and blocked the projectiles._

"_A senbon rainstorm, huh?" Gaara asked. "I have an idea. Let´s make it rain blood instead."_

"_Man, his chakra is so powerful!" Kiba whispered. "And that sand… Do you smell that odor? It stinks…"_

"_An odor?" Shino asked._

"_It smells like blood."_

"_That´s right," Kankuro told Shigure. "That is a defensive wall of sand, and nothing can get through it. He carries around all that sand in the gourd on his back. And when he´s attacked, he uses the power of his chakra to harden the sand. It´s a Jutsu that only Gaara can do, and somehow it happens automatically. Independent on his will. So any attacks against him are doomed to fail."_

_As the sand shield dispatched and fell onto the ground, Shigure shouted, "Oh yeah? We´ll see!"_

"_Just face it, you guys can´t hope to defeat Gaara."_

"_Gimme a break!" Shigure bellowed and ran towards Gaara, which was a bad move._

That punk´s a dead man, _Kankuro thought._

We warned him not to fight Gaara, _the female sand ninja thought._

"_Sand Coffin!" Gaara shouted and held his right hand in front of him._

_Suddenly, the sand began wrapping around Shigure, trapping him and keeping him from moving! Before he knew it, Shigure was trapped in a big sand prison. "Let me go!" he pleaded as his umbrellas fell in front of Gaara._

_The red-haired boy picked up one of the umbrellas and said, "All I need to do is cover your big mouth and you´ll be dead." He then opened the tool in his hand and held it over him. "But that would be too easy and too boring." He then moved his right hand so that it was pointing up in the air, and the sand prison with the terrified Shigure levitated up so that it looked like he was reaching out to it. And then, with a death glare and the words "Sand Burial!" said, he clenched his hand into a fist and crushed the waterfall ninja with the sand, sending blood everywhere! Gaara´s use for the umbrella was so that the blood would not stain him. "There wasn't any pain. I crushed him with more force than necessary, so it was over quickly. The corpse´s bitter crimson tears flow in link with the endless sand, feeding the chaos within me and making me stronger."_

"_Just take the scroll!" one of the remaining waterfall ninjas said with much fear in his voice and placed a Heaven scroll onto the ground._

"_Yes, take it! Please spare us!" the other ninja pleaded._

_Gaara, however, would have none of that. He threw the umbrella away, held out both of his hands, and did the same thing to the remaining waterfall ninjas as he did to Shigure!_

"_This is bad!" Kiba gasped and turned around. "We gotta get outta here before he finds and kills us!"_

_Kankuro went over to the scroll and picked it up. "We got lucky. It´s a Heaven scroll," he smiled. "Alright, now let´s head to the tower."_

"_Just shut up," Gaara hissed and looked in the direction of Team 8. "It´s not… It´s still not enough for me."_

_Team 8 stopped dead in their tracks and froze. _Oh no! Did he see us? If he did, we´re done for! _Kiba thought._

"_Come on, Gaara, let´s go," Kankuro said, turning around to face his teammate._

"_What are you, scared? A coward?" Gaara asked._

"_Look, Gaara," Kankuro said as he walked over to the red-haired boy. "I know this test is no problem for you, but it´s dangerous for Temari and me. One set of scrolls is good enough. It´s all we need to pass."_

_Gaara held his arm stretched out in Team 8´s direction as he said, "Losers can´t tell me what to do."_

_Angered by the insult, Kankuro took Gaara by the collar and said, "Alright, that´s enough! Sometimes you have to listen to what your big brother says!"_

"_It´s too bad I don´t think of you as my big brother at all. If you get in my way… I´ll kill you." Gaara then pushed his brother´s hand away and returned his focus on what he was doing._

"_Wait! Just hold on, Gaara!" Temari tried to calm the boy. "You… don´t have to treat us like we´re the enemy. Look, do it as a favor for your sister. Please?"_

_Gaara then held his hand in front of Kankuro, thinking about if he should get rid of his brother. He then decided against it and pointed it back at where Team 8 was at. The terrified genin saw their lives flash by their eyes when they heard the sound of sand gathering in Gaara´s hand._

"_GAARA!" Temari shouted as her brother closed his hand-_

_-around a plug for his gourd. "Alright, this time," the boy said as he plugged the gourd and walked away._

_Temari sighed in relief while Kankuro thought, _Yeah… that´s why I hate brats.

_As the rest of the Sand Siblings walked away, Team 8 panted in relief and sweated pure fear. "Well, I guess now we know why you were so freaked out," Kiba said to Akamaru. "I just wish you would´ve said something sooner."_

* * *

><p>In the present, Team 8 had reached the tower and was now walking inside of it. "There´s no one here," Hinata said.<p>

"We´re the first!" Kiba bragged.

"No… I´m sure that I sensed someone here a while ago," Shino said.

"More importantly… is Akamaru okay?" the shy girl asked, petting the dog´s head. "The poor little guy has been scared for so long."

"Come to think of it, what did Akamaru say before?" Shino asked.

"Well, I guess he must´ve been saying that that bigger ninja was in trouble because that little pipsqueak was gonna kill him," Kiba said.

"Just like I thought – there´s no other place to go."

"We´ve already waited half a day, how much longer are they gonna make us wait?"

Those two voices revealed themselves to be Kankuro and Temari respectively when the sand ninjas all walked down one of the hallways and crossed paths with Team 8. They just looked at them and walked away – no words at all.

_I don´t know what that sand village squirt is, but whatever he is, he´s way too dangerous to mess with, _Kiba thought. _He´s bad news._

Then the doors behind Team 8 opened and in walked Team 6. "I told ya we won´t be the first at the tower!" Torabu said to his teammates. "You owe me ten bowls of ramen, Konran!"

"Yes, too bad that I never agreed to this," Konran said.

Sairento then took notice of Team 8 and said, "You guys look like you´ve seen a ghost. What happened?"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, up at the top of the tower, where the jonins´ and proctors´ faculty lounge was, Anko had been safely brought there by the two ANBU ninjas. "This is turning into a real mess," the female proctor said. "But there´s no way we can cancel the test."<p>

"What do you mean?" one of the men asked.

Just then, an examiner entered the room. "Sorry to interrupt," he apologized.

"What do you want?" Anko asked, annoyed to be interrupted. "We´re talking about something important."

"I´m sorry, but…" He showed that he was holding a tape in his hand. "It´s this tape. You have to see it."

"What is it?"

The examiner put the tape in a VCR and pointed at a specific point on the screen. "Okay, when you watch this, pay special attention to the time."

When the picture on the screen became clear, it showed the sand ninjas entering the tower. Everyone was shocked when they saw that the time the Sand Siblings had arrived was 16:07. "But that means…!" Anko gasped.

"That´s right, Anko," the examiner said. "This is recorded from inside the tower. It´s unbelievable. Those ninjas finished only an hour and thirty-seven minutes after the test started. They completely destroyed the record for finishing the second test."

"That´s impossible!" Anko gasped as she stood up.

"It took just ninety-seven minutes. Nothing like this has ever happened before. No one´s even come close. Those ninjas from the sand village are way above genin level. They beat the record by four hours."

"I´m afraid it´s not just that."

The examiner looked at Anko. "I don´t get it. What do you mean?"

"It´s ten kilometers from the test entrance gates to the tower," she explained. "And in between them are ferocious animals and poisonous insects, not to mention the other ninjas. Could they really have avoided all those things? Especially the red-haired kid in the front."

"What´s so special about him?"

"You mean you didn´t see?"

The examiner rewinded the video and let the footage play again. "Interesting. That is quite a surprise," one of the ANBU men said.

"I still don´t get it," the examiner said. "What is it I´m supposed to see here?"

"It´s what you´re NOT seeing," Anko explained. "Look closely at his body." The ninja looked again, and when he saw it, Anko said, "Not one single scratch. And I haven´t even been able to spot one little speck of dirt on his clothing."

The examiner was astonished. _Not even I… no, NONE of the chunin would be able to make it to the tower without at least getting a scratch. It´s impossible!_

"He must have some special ability," one of the ANBU men concluded.

"It´s been a long time since we´ve had such a promising candidate," the other ANBU man said. "But his eyes are pure evil."

Was that remark about Gaara really true? What could possibly best the horrible powers of the red-haired sand ninja? And now that Team 7 is back in the game, will they be able to prevail and pass the test?

* * *

><p>dopliss: And now that this chapter is written, I have a bunch of games to play the hell out of! So expect the next chapter to be uploaded next week.<p>

Mizuki: Lazy bastard.

(dopliss punches Mizuki with a boxing glove full of needles)


	26. Chapter 26 The Forest of Death, part 8

**dopliss: What is a better way to start off the new year than with a new chapter?**

**Mizuki: Just don´t slack off.**

**dopliss: Like you usually do? Oh no, I didn't!**

**Disclaimer: If I say that I don´t own Naruto a hundred times this chapter, would I then be free from saying it the rest of this story? Probably not.**

* * *

><p>At the entrance to Konoha, the mysterious stranger from chapter 19 stood on top of the village sign, scouting the city with sharp eyes. "This village has not changed so much since I last was here," he mused aloud to himself. "No matter… I will find you, Torabu." And with that, the stranger leaped off to one of the rooftops.<p>

At one of the convenient stores, Takai packed the groceries that she had bought into three plastic bags. "Why are you buying so much, if I may ask?" the clerk asked.

"It´s to celebrate my friend´s homecoming from the Chunin Exams," the fiery female answered. "He´s been gone for four days now."

"Is it anyone I know?"

"Oh, you should know him. He´s kinda hard to miss."

"Any clues?" the clerk asked, getting curious as to whom the woman was talking about.

"You know, cat ears… cat tail…"

"Oh! Him! The self-proclaimed 'king of pranksters'!" the clerk realized, referring to Torabu.

"Yep! See ya!" Takai said and left for Torabu´s apartment with the groceries.

Unknown to the fiery female, however, the stranger stood on top of a roof and spied on her with narrowed eyes. "I believe it is time to greet your friend, brat," he said and leaped off.

* * *

><p>Naruto and a bunch of his Shadow Clones were standing on a cliff and looking at a creek filled with fish with hungry eyes. All of them were down to only their boxers and planning to get as many fish as possible. "Breakfast time!" all of them said. "Shadow Clone Fishing Jutsu! Banzai!" And then they all jumped into the creek.<p>

At the side of the creek, Sasuke stood ready with kunai in hand. When Naruto and his clones threw a fish out of water, Sasuke threw a kunai at them to stick them to a tree. Once three fish were caught, Naruto surfaced to get some air. "Well?" Sasuke asked disappointedly. "Come on, is that it? I only caught three. Now go and do it again."

"What?" Naruto protested, very angered by his rival´s bossy behavior.

"I could eat three fish myself."

"Well, if you think it´s so easy, why don´t YOU get wet and I´LL stay on the shore?" Naruto asked, flailing his arms up and down and making splashes.

"Sasuke~!" Sakura called from afar. "The fire is ready to light! I could use one of your fireballs!"

"I gotta do everything around here…" Sasuke groaned as he walked over to his other teammate.

Naruto, having heard his rival´s complaint, shouted, "You do, huh? What have I been doing?"

* * *

><p>Later, all three members of Team 7 were gathered around a campfire, roasting several fish over the flames. "It´s already been four days since the second exam began," Sasuke stated.<p>

"That´s right," Sakura confirmed, being fully aware of the consequences of being too late.

"We´re sure not gonna break any records, and we only have twenty-four hours left."

"I wonder how many of the other teams have already gotten their scrolls and finished?"

_I wonder when this fish is gonna be done? _Naruto thought, completely ignorant to his teammates´ serious conversation. _I could eat a whale!_

_If we don´t get a break soon, we´re finished, _Sasuke thought while looking at the Earth scroll that Torabu has given his team.

Naruto starred hungrily at the frying fish, drool almost escaping his mouth. _Almost ready…! If I move fast, I bet I could snatch the biggest one before the others get it!_

* * *

><p>Somewhere else in the forest, a team of ninjas were taking a stop at a clearing. "What´re we doing? Who´re we chasing? There´s probably no one left in the forest, anyway!" one of them whined.<p>

"So what do we do?" the other asked. "You´re right… the others are probably finished by now."

"Yeah, it´s been four days," the third of them said. "Anyway, we´ve been going since dawn, no need to kill ourselves. I´ll go and try to find something to eat." He turned away from his teammates. "You guys rest." And then he leaped off to search for food.

The two remaining ninjas sat down against a rock and waited patiently. After a big moment of silence, one of them said, "Hey…"

"Yeah?" the other asked.

"If I remember right…" He took out an Earth scroll and looked at it. "…I think the other scroll… it had 'Heaven' on it and it was different from this one ´cause it was white around the edges, right?"

"I guess so," the other ninja shrugged. "I wasn´t really paying too much attention when they showed them to us. Anyway, why? What´s the big deal all of a sudden?" His friend stared at the scroll and chuckled mischievously. "Whoa! You´re not really thinkin´…!"

* * *

><p>"We have to face it… there may not be any more Heaven scrolls left," Sakura depressingly said as she and her friends were eating the fish.<p>

"Well, _that´s _a cheerful thought," Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Maybe so, but it´s true. Look, you said it yourself, Sasuke, this is the fourth day we´ve been out here. That means we´ve already used up 80% of the time we´ve got to complete the exam. Only thirteen teams can pass, as there are only thirteen pairs of scrolls and you´ve got twenty-six teams – 78 people – out there looking for them. And if those odds weren´t bad enough, things have gotten even worse. Don´t forget that creep, Orochimaru, burned the scroll we had."

"Yeah, I remember," Sasuke nodded.

"The number of complete pairs of scrolls that can be found was reduced by one right there. Not to mention all the other teams had found and secured since then."

"Maybe we gave ourselves too much time to recover after our last fight. I don´t know. What I do know is that we got to get serious now and make up for lost time. The next enemy we face could be our last chance." Sasuke stood up. "I´m gonna get water." And then he left with a drinking bottle.

Naruto starred at the scroll, tempted to know what was so special about it. He picked it up and whispered, "Hey, Sakura, I know how we can do this without having to fight anyone. Look." He then opened his backpack and took out several ordinary scrolls.

"Look at what?" the pink-haired girl asked, curious as to what her friend could be getting at.

"What do you mean, 'look at what'? Scrolls! I´ve got tons of them! You know, manuals on Ninjutsu and stuff like that. We could change one of them to look like the Heaven scro-"

"Stop!" Sakura interrupted. "Don´t even! Even if you could fake the outside, how do you fake what´s written inside? You couldn´t know without reading it, and that´s against the rules! Idiot!"

"I´ve got it all figured out." Naruto cupped his chin. "I think these things have a secret code written in them that only makes sense if you put ´em both together. Yeah, and that secret code is like the password you need in order to get into the tower at the end of the exam. Get it?"

"All I get is that you´re a nimrod," Sakura sighed. "We don´t even have a Heaven scroll, so how in the world are we gonna fake what´s inside it?" she shouted. Naruto hung his head in defeat. "The next brilliant idea you get, how about keeping it to yourself? We got enough problems."

"But wait!" Naruto said. "We DO have a clue of what´s inside the Heaven scroll – the Earth scroll!"

"You wouldn´t!" Sakura warned, afraid that her teammate might be stupid enough to open the scroll and peek inside it.

"It´s our only chance. I´m gonna open and read this scroll."

Sakura whacked him on the head. "Naruto, can´t you get it through your empty head? We´re expressly forbidden from opening the scroll before arriving at the tower!"

"I know! But if we don´t do anything, we´ll never make it!"

Both then looked at the Earth scroll, thinking gravely about what to do.

* * *

><p>One of the two ninjas prepared to open the scroll, hands shaking nervously. The one holding it looked at his friend and nodded. "Careful, it might be booby-trapped or something," the friend said.<p>

"Yeah… I´ve thought of that…" the one holding the scroll said as he slowly pulled it open.

* * *

><p>Naruto held the scroll in his hands, his heart pounding as he prepared to open it and find out its secrets. He looked at Sakura, who nodded in agreement with his actions. He sweated bullets as he placed his hand near the fold of the scroll.<p>

* * *

><p>The ninja dug his thumb under the fold of the scroll. He then pulled on it slightly, and then finally opened it fully…<p>

What followed was the horrified screams of the two boys as something happened to them.

The third member of their team had heard them and had hurried back without the food to check on them. When he arrived, he found both of his friends unconscious. He looked around for any opposing teams before running up to his fallen friends. "Hey! Guys! What´s wrong?" he asked, and then he noticed the open scroll. "What´s the scroll doing there? What happened? What did you guys do?"

* * *

><p>Naruto stared long and hard at the scroll, becoming unsure about his actions. He then swallowed and pulled in it-<p>

-only to be stopped by someone who grabbed his hand. "I wouldn´t do that if I were you," the person said.

The two stared in shock as they realized that the person that had interrupted them was none other than their new friend, Kabuto Yakushi.

Just then, Sasuke returned with water, but then he saw Kabuto from a distance, and unable to identify him, he assumed that he was an enemy.

A little later, after all was settled down, Kabuto scolded, "I can´t believe you guys! If I hadn´t come along when I did…"

"Sorry, Sasuke…" Sakura apologized in shame. Naruto mumbled something incomprehensible, but it was in just as much shame.

"There have been others who have broken the rules and tried to peek at the scrolls. I´ve seen it what happens to them," Kabuto said. "They´re protected by a powerful hypnosis Jutsu, a kind of booby-trap for anyone unwise enough to try to read them. It´ll knock you senseless, and by the time you wake up, the exam´s over."

"'Kabuto', right?" Sasuke asked. "We met at the registration. What´re you doing, wandering around by yourself?"

"Don´t worry, I´m not after your Earth scroll."

"I guess not. I suppose if you were, you would´ve just swiped it from Naruto when you had the chance. So, you´re looking for a Heaven scroll too, huh?"

"Not really. You see, I already have them both." And here Kabuto pulled out the pair of required scrolls from his pocket. He put them back and said, "I had a run of luck. I was just on my way to the tower to wait for my teammates to show up. So, if you´ll excuse me…" And then he turned to walk away.

"Hold it!" Sasuke said. "I´ll fight you for it."

Unbeknownst to them, the same ninja who had impersonated Naruto was watching them from the treetops. "What a lucky break…" he said to himself.

"You wanna fight me for it?" Kabuto asked with a smirk, referring to the Heaven scroll.

"Hold on a second! Is this a joke or what?" Naruto asked, angered by Sasuke´s challenge.

"Are you serious?" Kabuto asked again.

"Perfectly," Sasuke answered. "Sorry, but I don´t have time to play nice."

"Back off, Sasuke!" Naruto warned. "In case you´ve forgotten, this guy saved our butts!"

"Naruto´s got a point," Sakura agreed. "We don´t wanna be ungrateful or anything…"

"Shut up," Sasuke said. "It can´t be helped. It´s either him or us. Out here, it´s all about surviving and winning – nothing else matters!"

"You´re lying," Kabuto smirked and turned to face them. "C´mon, admit it. For all your tough talk, your heart really isn´t in it. If it was true, if winning was really the only thing that really mattered to you, why openly challenge me to a fight? Why announce it and put me on my guard? Why not just jump me when my back is turned? After all, that´s what a _ninja_ would do."

"That´s pretty deep," Naruto said, impressed by the elder boy´s logic.

"It´s okay. Actually, I admire you for it. So here´s what I´ll do: I´ll show you the path you should follow." Kabuto turned around. "But let´s go. It´s best we get outta here. The smell of that cooking fire is going to draw every wild beast in the forest. And not only the animals, but the competition too.

The ninja then quickly left his hiding place, afraid that Kabuto might have found him out.

Later, Team 7 and Kabuto were leaping through the forest, heading for the tower. "You think there´s still other candidates out here?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh yeah," Kabuto answered. "Just think about it – what do you think the most efficient way of finding scrolls in an area as large as this? To go searching through the forest for them?"

"Uh, no?" Sakura guessed.

"No, you wait for them to come to you. The tower at the center of the forest is the goal, right? So on the last day of the exam, that area will be crawling with teams converging on the tower with their scrolls."

"Oh yeah, I get it! Like an ambush!" Sakura realized. "So we just head for the tower, find a hiding place, and when a team comes along with a Heaven scroll, we jump them and take it."

"That´s one third of the problem. You guys aren´t the only ones thinking of this. Every other team lacking a scroll will be lying in wait, just like you."

"So what?" Naruto asked. "The more, the merrier, I say! Whoever they are, we´ll take care of them! Wouldn´t want this to be too easy! That wouldn´t be any fun! Okay, so we grab someone else´s scroll, keep those losers from grabbing ours, and bingo! We´ve passed the second exam!"

"That´s two thirds of the problem."

"Well, at least we´re getting closer," Sakura said. "What else?"

"Well, there´s bound to be some 'collectors' near the finish line."

"'Collectors'?" Sakura asked.

"Even when you think you´re home free, you can´t relax your guard for an instant. This kind of exam always brings them out. Collectors… They gather extra sets of scrolls for various ends. For example, to bribe their way out of unexpected situations, or to provide their village mates with the scroll they´re lacking. Some steal them to keep candidates from rival villages from passing, or to help out teams from their own village who couldn´t find scrolls on their own. Others steal them for their own dark purposes. They´ll hang on to them to use against the stronger teams farther down the line. They´ll be there, alright… and they´re bad news. The closer you get to the tower, the more likely you´ll run into them."

"I see…" Sasuke smirked. "And I think I´m starting to understand why you brought us along with you. It´s because you´re frightened, aren´t you?"

"You bet I am," Kabuto laughed.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Team 7 and Kabuto were still traveling towards the tower, now on foot. "There´s the tower, and that means the end is in sight," Kabuto said. "Now comes the hard part."<p>

"Well, it´s about time! Bring it on!" Naruto shouted, much to the others´ dismay.

"There´s someone back there!" Sakura noticed and turned around.

On instinct, Naruto threw a kunai at the being behind them. A sickening sound was heard when the projectile hit the target, and the being was revealed to be a giant centipede.

"False alarm, it´s just a centipede," Naruto calmly said.

"_Just_ a centipede…?" Sakura asked, sick to her stomach by the insect´s size. "That creepy thing´s as big as a bus!"

"Hey, Naruto…" Kabuto started, gaining the boy´s attention, "do us a favor and try to keep it down to a dull roar, would you? See, the whole idea is not to let anyone know we´re here. If you go crashing through the forest like an elephant, you´re going to attract collectors like flies. We wanna find them before they find us."

"Oh… yeah… I see your point…" Naruto said, embarrassed over his reckless action.

"Take it slow and quiet. Let´s use all the time we´ve got left."

After agreeing, the four began to sneak closer to the tower.

* * *

><p>At one point, our heroes looked up and saw several corpses, all impaled with kunai. Naruto had accidentally stumbled into one himself, and had to get saved by Kabuto.<p>

After even more walking, our heroes were starting to tire. "For crying out loud…" Sakura groaned and fell to her knees in exhaustion. "How long have we walked? That tower is not getting any closer."

"Now that you mention that, I was thinking that too," Naruto agreed. "Weird."

"Maybe not," Sasuke said and looked around.

"It would seem we´ve been spotted," Kabuto said. "Somebody´s playing games with us. Look." He pointed at a tree. "Ring a bell?"

Team 7 looked and saw the exact same centipede that Naruto had killed. "What´s going on?" Sakura asked.

"Genjutsu…" Sasuke realized.

"That´s what it looks like," Kabuto added. "And we fell for it completely. We were so concerned by not being seen by anyone, we didn´t see we were walking around in circles."

"What´s their game?"

"They´re probably trying to wear us down and strike when we´re frustrated and physically exhausted."

"You mean like we are right now?"

"Right. They´ll be coming soon."

Suddenly, unnerving black figures began emerging from the trees surrounding our heroes en masse! Strangely enough, they resembled the Naruto impersonator. "Well, Naruto, you wanted a fight…" Sasuke said.

"Four against forty? I like those odds!" Naruto smirked.

"What are they?" Sakura asked.

"Clones, from the look of it," Kabuto answered. "And a whole lot of them."

"Like cornered rats…" one of the clones laughed.

"Oh yeah? Cornered rats, are we?" Naruto roared, leaped at a clone and punched him in the stomach.

_Well, whatever they are, they sure can´t take a punch, _Sakura thought. "That´s showing them! Way to go!"

Then Naruto´s punch managed to go right through the clone and rip a goo-like substance out of it! While Naruto looked at the clone in shock, another torso emerged from the hole with a double bladed kunai!

Sasuke, having activated his Sharingan, saw that the mutilated clone was about to attack and shouted, "Naruto! Watch out!" and threw shuriken at the clone, ripping its arm to pieces! The clone changed its attention to Sasuke and threw another kunai at him. Sasuke prepared to dodge, but the mark that Orochimaru had given him acted up and paralyzed the boy, leaving it up to Kabuto to save him and get his arm cut in the process.

Kabuto went over and looked at the kunai as Sakura looked over her paralyzed teammate. _This thing´s real enough. No illusion here, _the former thought.

"Surrender your scroll," all of the clones kept saying over and over again.

"These things are real Shadow Clones!" Naruto realized. "But Shadow Clones are supposed to vanish when you give them a good shot! These things don´t, so what the heck are we dealing with? Some kind of Genjutsu?"

Naruto prepared to engage the clones in battle, when Sasuke yelled, "It´s no use! Save it! You´ll only be fighting illusions. It´s Genjutsu, alright."

"But how?" Sakura asked. "That cut on Kabuto´s arm is real enough."

"That´s true," Kabuto agreed. "But still, Sasuke´s right. Could be… the real enemy´s in hiding. Somewhere in the woods nearby, launching real attacks from behind a smokescreen of illusions and coordinating their movements with them, so that we´re fooled into thinking these Genjutsu ninjas are the ones attacking us!"

Behind a bush, the Naruto impersonator stared at the scene with glee. Behind him were two ninjas that wore the same outfit as him, but one had a sash that covered both eyes, and the other had a sash that covered only the right eye. "Lucky guess…" the one with two eyes whispered.

"Well, whatever they are, what´re we gonna do, just stand here?" Naruto asked. "Let´s go find these clowns and take care of them!"

"Hold on, Naruto!" Kabuto said. "They would like nothing better than for us to searching blindly through the forest while they sit back and take us out, one by one. We´d be making their job easy for them. I know this kind of attack. The kind who use it do so because they are weak in Taijutsu and afraid of close hand-to-hand combat, according to my data. We´ve no choice. All we can do is hold our ground and fend off their attacks."

"Okay, fine! Whatever, let´s just do it!" Naruto said and prepared a kunai.

"How long do you think they can hold out?" the ninja with one visible eye asked.

"The night is young," the ninja with no visible eyes laughed.

The clones then began to throw kunai at our heroes, forcing them to dodge. After a while, Sakura complained, "Man, how long is this gonna go on?"

"Okay, this isn´t gonna work!" Naruto deduced and made a hand-seal.

"No, it´s pointless! You´ll only waste your chakra!" Kabuto said. "By trying to fight these things, you´ll do just what they want."

"If we were to eliminate all the illusions, whoever´s casting them wouldn´t be able to hurl kunai at us without us being able to see where they´re hiding! I´ll show him two can play this game! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" And then Naruto made many clones and began initiating his plan.

The Naruto clones all attacked the enemy clones, but no matter how much they got attacked, they just kept reforming and recovering. "Sasuke, shouldn´t we help him?" Sakura asked.

"Jerk!" Sasuke cursed. "He has given us no choice! We´ve got to now!"

"You´re right," Kabuto agreed. "He´s gonna need us, so that´s that! We fight!"

And then the rest of Team 7 and Kabuto joined the fray.

* * *

><p>The fight went on, and once it was daybreak, our heroes were beaten. They panted heavily as they recovered from the nearly-endless fight.<p>

"The sun´s coming up… time to move in for the kill," one of the enemy ninjas said and took out kunai.

"I think you´re right," another laughed as the clone disappeared. "We´ve crushed their spirits, now to crush their bodies."

"Lucky us…" the third said as the three emerged from their hiding place.

"You!" the one with two visible eyes growled at Sasuke. "I know you! You´re the one who cut me on the shoulder! That really messed me up, you know! Oh well… Now I can finally pay you back… with interest!"

Naruto seemed to be shaking with fear, but then he smirked. "Well, well… now who´s the cornered rat?" Sasuke´s voice sounded from somewhere.

"Works like a charm, Naruto," Sakura´s voice was heard.

The enemy ninjas turned around and saw Kabuto and the other two members of Team 7 standing with no signs of fatigue. "It can´t be!" one of them said. "If they´re over there, then who´re they?"

"Confused?" Naruto asked mockingly. "Sorry, but it was the only way to get you guys to come out of hiding." And then the Sasuke, Sakura and Kabuto next to him turned into Naruto clones.

The enemy ninjas were shocked. "How? Don´t tell me that little brat…!"

"The Shadow Clones were only the first part of it," Naruto said and stood up. "My real trick was coming up with clones of the rest of my team."

"While our doubles did all the fighting and took the beating, we were safe and sound, waiting for you to show yourselves," Sasuke followed up. "What do you think, guys? I think our little plan worked!" Naruto then fell to his knees, exhausted from the big use of his chakra. "Naruto, take a break! You´ve used up too much of your chakra. Don´t worry, I got them!"

Naruto then dashed up to the enemy ninjas and delivered a punch to one of them, which caused him to fall into the others like a domino. "After all the work I´ve done, there´s no way I´m gonna stay back and let you have all the fun!" he panted.

_Whoa! Is this… the same Naruto?_ Sasuke asked himself. _What happened? When did he get this good?_

"This kid shouldn´t even be able to move, let alone this!" one of the enemy ninjas said as he and his friends got up.

_His chakra is incredibly resilient!_ Kabuto thought. _To be able to pull off a multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, and then to transform three of them into his companions… and to still come up fighting! And all this on the fifth day. If he ever masters his chakra, this kid will be unstoppable._

"Not bad, but that doesn´t mean it´s over!" one of the enemy ninjas said as he and his friends made hand-seals. "We´re still feeling lucky! And besides, time´s running out for all of us, so we´ll just have to take the gloves off and show you our Ninjutsu! Ninja Art: Fog Clone Jutsu!"

And then an entire army of the enemy ninjas appeared. "Those are real clones!" Sasuke said. "Don´t waste your strength, bonehead. Let them make the first move."

"If these are clones, then the real ones are in there with them!" Naruto smirked. "All I gotta do is smash my way through until I find the ones that squeal!"

"No, don´t be an idiot! Listen to me!"

"Get off my back, will ya? Just stay outta it! I can handle this!"

And then Naruto ran headfirst into the army of clones. While Kabuto leaped out to help, Sasuke was again paralyzed by the mark. Naruto began punching through each of the clones, and he deduced that those he fazed through were clones. Sasuke tried to use his Sharingan, and when he did, he saw that all of the clones held none of the originals amongst them. But once he had used his technique, his mark began to hurt him and he collapsed.

"Never give your opponent an opening!" one of the ninjas shouted.

Naruto was distracted by Sasuke´s scream of pain, and one of the clones tried to stab him, but Kabuto took the hit and got cut on the leg again. Angered by his friend´s new wound, Naruto growled, "Now you´re gonna get it!"

"Forget it, Naruto!" Sasuke shouted. "You can swing at those guys all day, you´re just wasting your time on them! The real ones aren´t there!"

"What´re you talking about? That last attack didn´t come from any clone! Of course the real ones are here, they gotta be here! If they´re not, then where the heck are they?"

"Use your head! If I knew the answer to that, we wouldn´t be in this fix!"

"Looks like they´ve reached the end of their rope," one of the clones said. "Too bad. It was fun while it lasted."

As the clone prepared to attack, Naruto did not notice that the real ninjas crawled out of the ground behind him – using a Jutsu – and prepared to use their kunai. Being the one closest to them, Kabuto was unfortunate enough to get cut and punched down onto the ground. As the ninjas got fully out of the ground and prepared to deal the finishing blow to the downed boy, they were taken aback by a strange look in Kabuto´s eye.

Taking advantage of the situation, Naruto roundhouse-kicked all three of the ninjas, sending them skidding across the ground and knocking them out, their clones disappearing as a result. "Like you said, never give your enemy an opening. Good advice," Naruto said.

"Thank you, Naruto," Kabuto thanked while sitting up. "You saved my neck."

"Way to go, Naruto!" Sakura cheered as her friend sat down.

"Aw, it was nothing," Naruto shrugged.

* * *

><p>A little later, Naruto was rummaging through the enemy ninjas´ pockets, looking for their scroll. "That mark on your neck… was is it?" Kabuto asked Sasuke, referring to the curse mark. "A bruise?"<p>

Sasuke covered the mark and glared at Kabuto. "It´s nothing," he lied.

Naruto then struck gold and stood up while shouting, "Hey, guys! Here it is! Just what we needed – a Heaven scroll!"

"Good for you!" Kabuto congratulated.

Sasuke, however, was more interested in Kabuto. _There´s something about this guy… something I don´t like._

After a few minutes of walking, our heroes had finally reached the tower. When at Team 7´s entrance, two other people joined them. They both wore the same outfit that Kabuto wore, just with masks that covered everything except their eyes, and one of them wore sunglasses while the other wore round glasses.

"There you are, Kabuto," the one with the sunglasses said. "You´re late."

"Sorry about that," Kabuto apologized. "I got a little… sidetracked."

"Yeah, and I´m really glad you did," Naruto said. "After all, it was thanks to you we got both the scrolls."

"Not really. You did most of it on your own. Especially you, Naruto. Very impressive." Kabuto then looked at the door that was right beside Team 7´s. "Well, this is the door we go through. So long and good luck to us both." And then he gave them a 'thumbs up'.

Both teams entered at the same time, but when Kabuto´s team was fully in, a person asked, "Good harvest?"

"Yes… even better that expected," Kabuto answered. "I learned a lot about him during the second exam, and I recorded all the data on this." He shoved a Ninja Info Card. "You want it?"

"Of course. So tell me, what do you think?"

"Your curiosity is truly insatiable, Lord Orochimaru."

Indeed, it really was Orochimaru in the room. "As a sound village spy, you see things others don´t," he said to Kabuto. "Your opinion is of interest to me."

"Oh, it doesn´t really matter, does it? Whatever I think, you´re the one who decides. Isn´t that always the way?"

"By the way…" Orochimaru´s eyes showed great curiosity. "…do you know something about the cat-boy?"

Kabuto shrugged. "All I know is that his name is Torabu Maka and his teammates are Sairento Josei and Konran Reijingu."

The snake-like man´s eyes widened when he heard that information. "'Maka', huh? And little Konran… how I´ve missed him." He smirked and began chuckling.

Inside of the room Team 7 had entered, there was not a living soul to greet them. The only thing worthy of interest was a plaque on the wall. They looked at it and Sakura read aloud, "'If qualities of Heaven are your desire, aquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever. This – something – is the secret way that guides us from this place today.'"

"This what, or is that a secret too?" Naruto asked, referring to the one thing that was not said.

"It´s like there´s a word missing here," Sakura said. "Anyway, it´s about the scrolls… I think… we´re supposed to open and read the Heaven and Earth scrolls now."

Sakura and Naruto then held the Heaven scroll and Earth scroll respectively and stared nervously at it. they could be right about opening the scrolls, but they could still be wrong. And what connection does Orochimaru have with Torabu and Konran?

* * *

><p>dopliss: And that´s the final chapter-<p>

Mizuki: WHAT? You can´t be serious!

dopliss: -of the Forest of Death arc. You didn´t think I was gonna end it here, didja?

Mizuki: No, I expected you to end the chapter sooner.


	27. Chapter 27 Intermission

**dopliss: It might be a short chapter today, but expect a lot of longer ones, what with the part we´re leading up to.**

**Mizuki: I miss my screen time.**

**dopliss: The only screen time you´ll get is a filler arc that is way too long ahead of here.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto. Not mine. Get on with the chapter.**

* * *

><p>Nervous and hesitantly, both Naruto and Sakura opened the Heaven and Earth scrolls slowly. Both then gathered all the courage they could muster and fully opened the scrolls, revealing a circle with a kanji in the middle. "What… what does this mean?" Naruto asked.<p>

Sakura tilted her head while trying to get the meaning of the kanji. "A man? Person?" she guessed.

Sasuke suddenly tensed, and then he saw the scrolls emit smoke. "Oh, no! This is a Summoning Jutsu!" he realized. "Naruto, Sakura, quick! Get rid of the scrolls!"

The two ninjas quickly tossed the scrolls, and when they landed across each other, a big puff of smoke emerged. Team 7 prepared for anything that might show up, thinking that this was another part of the test. The outline of a grown man could then be seen in the smoke, and Team 7 was surprised when they saw who emerged from the smoke. "What? It´s you!" Sasuke gasped.

The person who appeared was none other than Iruka Umino, their former teacher. "Hey," he said. "Long time no see, huh?" And then he gave them a smile.

"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked bewildered.

"Looks like you´ve gone through a lot in this test."

"Hey, wait, what´s the deal with the surprise entrance?" Naruto asked. "Why are you appearing with a summoning?"

"At the end of the second exam, we chunin are supposed to welcome the test-takers back. And, well, it was just good luck that I got to be the one given the important task of being the messenger for you guys." Iruka took a few steps toward his former students.

"The messenger?" Sakura asked.

Iruka dug in his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. "Whew! And you made it just in time, too." He put the watch back into his pocket and smiled brightly at the genin. "And now… Congratulations! You´ve passed the second exam! To celebrate your passing, I would love to treat you all to some Ichiraku ramen, but I-"

"Ramen?" Naruto interrupted, being incredibly ecstatic when hearing that. "Seriously? That´s so cool!" And then he ran up and hugged his former teacher, despite the man´s protests. Naruto finally let go and shouted, "OH YEEEEAAAAH! Ramen would be awesome!"

Sakura and Sasuke just sat down on the floor, completely exhausted from the five days of struggling in the dangerous forest. "Where does he get all this energy?" the latter asked, referring to his overjoyed friend.

"Ugh, shut up!" Sakura groaned.

"Well, I can see you´re still as hyperactive as ever, Naruto," Iruka said.

"Now I see…" Sasuke chuckled. "So, then, if we had looked at the scrolls in the middle of the exam… what would you have done to us, Iruka-sensei?"

"As usual, Sasuke, you´re sharp as a tack." Iruka picked up the scrolls. "You´ve figured out the secret. Part of this exam was to test how well you could see a difficult mission all the way through. Simply put, you knew that opening the scrolls was against the rules of your mission, and if you had tried to open one…" He gave an eerie smile. "If a scroll was opened, we were ordered to knock out whoever opened it. Some ninjas found that out the hard way."

Sasuke looked at his teammates. "It´s a good thing you didn´t open up yours, huh, Naruto?"

Both Naruto and Sakura visibly paled when they realized how close they were to screwing up and fail the exam. Naruto held his hand together and said, "I owe you one. Thanks a million, Kabuto!"

Sakura sighed in relief, and her inner self was also relieved. "Sha! That was a close one!" Sakura then remembered something. "Um, Sensei?" she asked. "What does that writing on the wall mean? The parchment the letters are written on is kinda eaten away, so it´s difficult to read it. We can´t understand it."

"Oh please!" Naruto shrugged, much to the pink-haired girl´s annoyance. "Look, we passed, didn´t we? That stuff doesn´t matter now."

"Well…" Iruka smiled. "Actually, explaining that is another one of the duties that I´ve been sent here to take care of."

"What, seriously?" Naruto asked.

"That´s right, it´s serious business. Give it a good read. They are instructions Lord Hokage recorded as principles a chunin should follow."

"They´re instructions?"

"Yes. 'Heaven' stands for your mind and 'Earth' for your body. 'If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher.' Get it?" Naruto shook his head. "Alright, I´ll explain it. in other words, if your weakness lies in your intellect, Naruto, then you have to make doubly sure that you work hard to learn all the information and skills that you need to prepare for your missions." While Naruto grumbled from being called intellectually inferior, Sakura did her best not to laugh out loud. "And you…" Iruka looked at Sakura. "'If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack.' So if your weakness lies in your physical strength, Sakura, then you have to make sure that you work on your physical conditioning every single day so that it improves all the time." Sakura sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "'When Heaven and Earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever.' Meaning, if your mind and body works together as one, then even a very dangerous mission can become an easy one."

"So, what about that spot with the missing letter?" Sakura asked.

"Well, that part is meant for all of you to fill in." Iruka showed them one of the opened scrolls. "Do you see that symbol on the scroll? It´s the character for 'person', a reference to you chunin. You see, these five days of survival were to test your abilities as chunins and see if you´re any good at it. And I gotta say, you guys did magnificently. A chunin is a leader, a guide. It´s a chunin´s responsibility to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of those serving under him, and to know what skills and training those ninjas are going to need in order to succeed on the mission. You did an excellent job on this mission, and I want you to remember these instructions on your next one." Iruka smiled brightly. "Well, that´s it. That was everything I was supposed to say to you."

"Got it!" Naruto said and saluted.

Iruka then looked depressed. "Uh… one more thing. For the third exam… don´t push it too far." He looked at Naruto. "Especially you. Naruto, I´m worried-"

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto interrupted, "when I got this headband, I stopped being a student. So you don´t need to worry about me at all, not anymore. I mean, this headband proves that I´m a full-fledged ninja, right? You gave it to me. I may still be hyper, but I´m not a kid. Like you just said, I got through the second Chunin Exam, and you watch, I´m gonna pass the third one for sure! Right now… I´m a ninja too!"

Iruka was surprised by the boy´s determination. "Naruto… you´re right. I´m sorry about that." He then remembered something that happened a few days before the second exam.

* * *

><p><em>Iruka was facing Anko in an office. "Look, I know their strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else does," he said. "Whatever the result, I wanna be the one to break the news to them."<em>

"_Fine, if you´re that hung up on it, then I´ll just leave that team in your hands," Anko sighed. "But I would´ve thought you had a little more confidence in them, you know."_

_Iruka bowed in gratitude. "Thank you, Anko."_

_She then took a closer look at the paper concerning Team 7. "Wait, those guys are Kakashi´s students, aren´t they?" She looked back at him. "Listen, if Kakashi´s got faith in them, then I wouldn´t count them out just yet, Iruka."_

_Iruka was then silent and thought back to what Kakashi had said about Team 6 and 7 being his students now, not Iruka´s._

* * *

><p>Iruka smiled at Naruto, who was laughing in confidence. <em>It seems to me now that the one who truly understands the strengths and weaknesses of these young ninja best… might very well be you, Kakashi, <em>he thought.

* * *

><p>Up in another part of the tower, in the same office that Anko was residing in, the female proctor was accompanied by the Hokage himself. Anko winced due to the curse mark on her neck. "How is it?" the Hokage asked. "Does the curse mark still cause you pain?"<p>

"No, not really," Anko said. "Thanks to you, it´s much better."

"That´s good, but we better get back to business," one of the examiners in the room said. "This Orochimaru is one of the sannin, the legendary three ninjas, isn´t he? He´s supposed to be so incredibly powerful that not even the ANBU black ops unit can bring him down. I heard a rumor that he died, but I guess that wasn´t true."

"Why did he come to this village now, anyway?" another examiner asked.

Anko then gasped as she remembered what Orochimaru had told about concerning his interest in Sasuke. "That boy…" she whispered.

"He´s after Sasuke, right?" the Hokage assumed, causing Anko to gasp.

The TV then turned on, showing another examiner. "_Anko,we´ve confirmed that 24 ninjas have finished the second exam,_" he said. "_And as for the third exam… according to the rules, we´ll have to hold a round of preliminaries first. For the first time in five years._" And then the TV turned off.

The Hokage returned his focus to Anko. "Now, for the time being, we´ll just continue with the exams as planned," he said. "But I also want to keep an eye on his movements, as well."

"Yes…" Anko silently agreed.

* * *

><p>Later, all of the teams that have passed were gathered in a circular room with alcoves above it. There was a small platform in one end of the room, with a statue of two hands forming a hand-seal, and four panels were behind it. The teams were standing in rows in the middle of the room with, from right to left, Team 6, Team 10, Team 8, Team 7, Rock Lee´s team, Kabuto´s team, the Sand Siblings, and the sound ninjas. The proctors and examiners were around the platform. The Hokage stood at the middle of the platform, and behind him were the jonins of the teams – again, from right to left – a pale man in a grey outfit, Asuma, Kurenai, Guy, Kakashi, a tall man with a turban-like headgear with a sheet that covers the left side of his face, red markings on the right side, and dressed in a uniform similar to Iruka´s. The final one was a man with glasses.<p>

"First of all, congratulations on finishing the second exam!" Anko congratulated. _Huh. There were 78 ninjas who took that exam. Frankly, I´m surprised that even 24 passed. I knew that half wouldn´t make it, but I really thought the number would be in the single digits._

"I´m really hungry," Choji groaned while rubbing his belly.

"What a drag, there´s so many left," Shikamaru sighed. "This is such a pain."

Ino saw Sasuke and could not help but smile. "Sasuke and his team have passed too," she said.

"Well, of course they did," Shikamaru groaned. "After all the trouble we went through to keep them safe, they better have passed."

Naruto and Torabu spotted each other and gave each a 'thumbs up'. "Thanks," Naruto whispered.

"Good to see you here, pal," the cat-boy whispered back.

"I see your team didn´t do bad, Kakashi," Guy said to his rival. "They must´ve gotten real lucky. Of course, with my team still around, your team is doomed to failure. And after all, what matters in the next test is ability, and we´ve got you far outclassed. Well, I guess that part of growing up is learning to deal with heartbreak, huh, Kakashi?"

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Kakashi asked, having completely ignored all that Guy had said.

Guy did not take this well. He mentally screamed and growled with an angry scowl on his face. _Alright, Kakashi, you win this round. Boy, that´s no way to react when you´re so cool! There´s no way I´ll let you get the best of me!_ And then the flames of rage appeared around him (not that anyone noticed).

Tenten and Lee had noticed their sensei and his rival on the platform. _So THAT´S Guy-sensei´s old rival, huh? _Tenten thought. _Well, if I´d to judge them on looks alone, I´d say Guy-sensei would lose._

Lee, however, had other thoughts. _Guy-sensei is just the coolest teacher ever! I mean, he is so cool he practically glows with cool!_ The flames of determination blazed in his eyes. "You watch, Guy-sensei! Someday, I´ll make you proud of me!" He then thought about his fight in the forest with the sound ninjas and how Sakura cried. _I do not want to see tears from anyone close to me ever again. That is why… I am never going to lose again, Guy-sensei! NEVER!_

Neji looked around, surveying the genin who stood beside him. _As expected, all the best are here. _He then spotted Sasuke and stared at him. _Sasuke Uchiha, huh?_

Dosu and Zaku, the latter having one arm in a sling, also spotted Sasuke. _I`ll get you back for what you did to me, Sasuke!_ the latter of the boys thought while growling. _No matter what it takes!_

The pale jonin on the platform smirked at Kabuto, who tensed in response.

Temari looked around with a bored expression. _I can´t believe it. Only eight teams of twenty-six are left._

The tall man with a turban looked only on the Sand Siblings. _Sure enough, not a scratch on you, Gaara._

Kurenai noticed that Kiba´s dog was hiding inside of his owner´s shirt. _Akamaru´s acting strange, _she thought. Kiba also noticed and glared nervously at the sand ninjas.

Hinata smiled as she looked at Naruto. _Naruto passed too! Thank goodness!_

"Well, what do you know…" Sairento whispered. "All of Konoha´s rookies are here."

"Whoa, everybody´s here," Naruto whispered to his teammates. "Old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei, and even Bushy Brow. It looks like absolutely nobody got left out this time."

"I don´t have a very good feeling about this," Sasuke said while rubbing his neck.

_It´s hard to believe that there are so many left after the second test, _the Hokage thought. _And so many of them are rookies._ He looked back at the jonin. _So, that´s why they fought so hard to recommend them._

"Alright, now pay attention!" Anko ordered. "Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you! You better listen carefully, maggots!" She then turned and bowed her head. "Lord Hokage, they´re all yours."

The Hokage took a few steps forward, cleared his throat and said, "First, before I tell you what the third exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, it´s something that all of you need to understand. I´m going to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjunction with our allies? To raise the ability levels of the ninjas, and increase friendship between allied nations to be sure, but it is important that you understand it´s true meaning. The exams are, so to speak…" He took his pipe out of his mouth. "They are a representation of the battle between allied nations."

"And what´s that supposed to mean?" Tenten asked.

"Now, if we look at our history, all the countries that we are currently allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought with each other for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location. That was how the Chunin Selection Exams originally began."

"Well, that´s great, but why do we have to go through these exams, then?" Naruto asked. "I mean, it´s not like we´re doing this to pick chunin to go fight."

"Well, actually, there is no question that part of the point of these exams is to select ninjas worthy of becoming chunins. That´s just not the whole story. These exams also allow for a place where ninjas can carry the pride of their nation on their backs and fight against other ninjas for their very lives. Many leaders and people of prominence from various countries are invited to attend this exam as guests, and also possibly to seek ninjas to work for them. This exam could determine the course of your ninja work from here on out. And more importantly, those rulers will watch your battles and take notes of the strengths of each ninja and each nation is developing. If there is a gap in power between the countries, the strong nations are inundated with job requests for their ninjas, and conversely, the requests from the countries that are deemed weak are declined. Therefore, the stronger our nation is, the better our position when it comes to negotiating with neighboring countries. So it´s important to show how much military strength our village has."

"Okay, but even so, why is it important for _us_ to risk our lives?" Torabu asked.

"The country´s strength is the village´s strength, the village´s strength is the ninjas´ strength, and the true strength of the ninjas is only achieved when it´s pushed to its limits, such as in a life and death battle. This exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of its ninjas, and hence, the strength of the nation itself. It´s because this is an exam where your life is on the line that it has meaning and it´s for this very reason that for the strength of the nation that your forerunners fought in this exam. It´s truly a reason worth striving for."

"But, then why… did you use the expression 'friendship' before?" Tenten asked.

"You´ve only remembered half of what I´ve said. You also mustn´t have the wrong idea of this exam´s meaning. This is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying. In the world of the ninjas, that _is_ friendship. The third exam is a fight for life with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake."

"Well, he sure convinced me," Naruto said while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Any test is fine, just tell me what the details of the exam are, already," Gaara said. "I can handle anything you throw at me."

The Hokage nodded. "Very well, then. Now listen closely, I´m going to tell you exactly what you´ll all be doing on the third exam."

Suddenly from out of nowhere, a Konoha ninja appeared in front of the Hokage and bowed respectfully. He wore the standard village uniform, with the headband used as a bandana, and he had brown hair. "Lord Hokage," the man began, "before you do, please allow me, Hayate Gekko, appointed proctor of the third exam, to speak first."

"So be it," said the Hokage.

"It´s nice to meet you all," Hayate said. He then stood up and turned around, revealing his dark eyes and a very sick-looking pale face. "There´s something I would like all of you - *cough* *cough* - to do before the third exam." And then he coughed a lot more, almost as if he was infected with some sort of violent disease.

What does this Hayate want with the genin? Will our heroes pass this ordeal? And most importantly, with Gaara around, will there be any casualties?

* * *

><p>dopliss: Alright, I guess most of you readers out there know what´s coming up next time.<p>

Mizuki: What is Hayate even suffering from?

dopliss: I don´t know. Pneumonia?


	28. Chapter 28 Preliminary matches, part 1

**dopliss: Now that we´ll enter the more action-packed parts, expect some changes to happen.**

**Mizuki: Like what have happened throughout this entire story?**

**dopliss: Shut it.**

**Disclaimer: Story mine. Anime and manga not mine.**

* * *

><p>The man known as Hayate Gekko looked at the genin with his pale face. "Uh… we have to have a preliminary exam before we can move on to the real one," he said, making the genin wonder.<p>

"Preliminary?" Shikamaru asked annoyed. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"I´m sorry," Sakura interrupted. "Sensei, excuse me, but I really don´t see the point. What´s this preliminary all about? Why can´t we just move on to the third exam?"

"Uh… well, you see…" Hayate started, "the first and second exams might´ve been too easy. The fact is, we never expected so many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chunin Exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage, in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining."

'_Too easy'?_ Torabu thought angrily. _They call a test where you have to cheat and a trip through a deadly forest for easy?_

"But… is that fair?" Sakura asked, showing her protest to the sudden change.

"It´s just that, at this stage, we have to speed up a bit," Hayate replied. "As Lord Hokage said, a lot of important guests will be watching, we can´t afford to waste their time. They come to see only the best." He took out a book from his pocket and opened it. "So if any of you are not in top physical condition, now´s your chance to-" And then he was interrupted by his severe coughing again.

_Talk about not being in top physical condition, _Ino thought.

_That proctor doesn´t look so good himself, _Hinata thought in worry.

Hayate recovered and resumed. "Sorry about that. As I was saying: any of you who don´t feel up to this, now´s the time for you to bail out. The preliminaries will start immediately."

"Come on!" Kiba complained. "You mean right now?"

"We´ve just finished barely surviving the last exam, don´t we get a break?" Ino added, with her teammates groaning as well.

Naruto clenched his left fist. _Well, they pulled a fast one, but I´m in! All the way, no matter what! I gave my word!_

"Oh yeah, uh…" Hayate continued. "The winners will be determined by one-on-one combat, sudden death. So like I said, if there´s anyone who doesn´t feel up to it, now´s the time to raise your hand."

_Does he really think anyone´s gonna quit?_ Sasuke asked in thought. He then felt a sharp pain in his neck and placed his right hand on his curse mark. _The waves of pain… they´re coming sooner and sooner._

Sakura took notice of her teammate´s pain and became worried. "Sasuke," she whispered. "Listen to me, you have got to quit." Sasuke´s eyes widened upon her plea, and Naruto was wondering what she meant, not knowing of his teammate´s mark. "You have been like this ever since you tangled with Orochimaru, and it´s getting worse." Sasuke winced from the pain. "It´s that mark he put on you, isn´t it?" Her eyes softened. "You can´t deny it, Sasuke." She then remembered how the mark had caused Sasuke to become brutal in combat, and it struck her heart and caused some tears to emerge. "Please… Please, Sasuke, quit now, before… I don´t know what. I´m scared."

The proctors and the Hokage had also noticed Sasuke´s pains. "It´s just as I feared," the latter said.

"What do we do with him?" asked Ibiki Morino.

"We take him out of the exam, hand him over to black ops, and let them keep him locked up," Anko proposed rather coldly. "We have to keep that seal under control-"

"Oh, and he´s just going to quietly go along with all of this, huh?"

Anko turned to face Kakashi, who had joined the conversation. "You really think so?" he asked sarcastically with a smile under his mask. "You´re forgetting: he´s from the Uchiha clan."

"I don´t care what the hell he is!" Anko protested. "If he stays, he´s a danger to everyone! Don´t you see? If he gets stronger, so does the curse mark! That thing is feeding off his chakra!" She clutched her own mark. "It´s a forbidden Jutsu that devours the one who bears it." She looked at Sasuke. "It´s incredible the kid´s still standing. By now, he… should be dead." She turned to face the leader of Konoha. "Lord Hokage!"

"C´mon, you know as well as I do you´re in no condition to keep fighting," Sakura pleaded.

"Shut up, Sakura," Sasuke hissed.

"You think I´m blind or something?"

"Will you please be quiet?"

"You think I don´t see the suffering you´re going through?"

"That´s enough, Sakura."

"I´m sorry, I can´t let you do it to yourself." She was on the verge of crying. "I´m going to… tell them about that mark… then maybe you´ll…"

The Hokage took notice of Kabuto and looked at him. "Seems to me I´ve seen that one before," he said aloud. "If memory serves, this isn´t the first time he´s in the exam."

Anko nodded and flipped through the pages on her clipboard. "Kabuto Yakushi," she informed the village leader. "Says here he´s… failed six times in a row?"

"What do you have on his background?"

"His time at school was not what you´d call impressive. Average grades. Took him a full three tries before he passed the graduation exam. As far as the missions he´s carried out since then, there´s been two C-ranks and fourteen D-ranks. It´s not exactly a battle record to write home about." She glanced at the Hokage. "However…

"Go on."

"There´s something before his time at school. Do you remember the child? The one who was found after the Battle at Kikyo Pass? The only survivor?"

The Hokage was surprised, but his expression quickly became a frown. "I remember the story. It was said a small boy was found among the enemy, dead on the battlefield. He was found barely alive and was brought back by a jonin of the medical unit. You´re saying _this_ is that boy?"

_I can´t let this go on! I have to tell them!_ Sakura thought and slowly raised her left hand.

Sasuke took notice of her movements and forced her hand down, much to the pink-haired girl´s shock. "Don´t you even think of telling them about this mark," he warned.

More sadness was starting to build up in Sakura. "I don´t get what you´re trying to prove!" she said. "Am I supposed to just stand by and watch you tear yourself apart? I can´t bear to watch it…"

"Then don´t watch, but stay outta it. This has nothing to do with you." He let go of her. "I told you before… what I am is an avenger. For me, this is something far more than just an exam. Whether I become a chunin or not means less than nothing to me. Am I as strong as I can be? All I want is the answer to that. I can only find that out by fighting the strongest… the best…" He started thinking about those he met who possessed strength of high caliber – Gaara, Neji, Rock Lee, and the sound ninjas. "And the best of the best… are all here." He glared at Sakura. "This is the path I walk, not you or anyone can change that."

"Man, you don´t know when to quit!" Naruto exclaimed, butting in on the conversation. "What´re you biting her head off for, you idiot? It´s just ´cause she cares about you!"

"Naruto…" Sasuke interrupted and smirked at his rival. "You´re one of the ones I wanna fight the most." That sentence was a shocker for Naruto.

The Hokage took a puff of his pipe. "I´m still concerned about what Orochimaru said," he said aloud. "Allow the boy to continue with the exam for now, and we´ll see what happens."

Anko was shocked to hear that. "B-But, Lord Hokage…!"

"However, at the first sign of his curse mark growing or his power getting out of control, we will step in and stop it."

Anko would have protested even more against the decision, but desided against it. "As you wish," she calmly said.

No one had chosen to give up, and so, Hayate continued. "Alright then, we´ll now begin the preliminary round," he said. "This round will consist of one-on-one individual combat at full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There are twenty-four of you remaining, so that means we will need twelve matches. The surviving candidates from these twelve matches will advance to the third exam. As for the rules, there are none. You will fight until one dies or concedes defeat or is rendered physically incapable of continuing the contest. Naturally, those who are losing are urged to concede defeat promptly to avoid a fatal outcome. Furthermore, as proctor, I am given a certain allow of leeway in judging the matches." He stopped to cough. "I might occasionally intervene if the match seems hopeless, to save as many lives as possible. Now it´s time to reveal what fate has been chosen for you."

"Open the panel," Anko said in her earphone. Then one of the four panels opened to reveal a big screen.

"The names of each pair of opponents are chosen completely at random. Before each match, these names will appear on the display behind me. As there´s nothing more to say, let´s begin. In a moment, the names of the first two opponents will appear."

Everybody stared at the screen as two lines with different names appeared and kept changing them. After a little waiting, the two names were finally chosen.

_**Kabuto Yakushi vs. Konran Reijingu**_

"Alright, those whose names have been picked, come forward," Hayate ordered, and the two chosen opponents stepped up to him and faced each other. "You have been chosen for the first match. Kabuto Yakushi and Konran Reijingu, are there any objections?"

Kabuto then raised his hand and said something that neither Team 6 nor 7 could believe: "I quit."

"He… quits? Already?" Sairento asked.

Kabuto turned and gave his new friends an apologizing look. "Sorry, guys, but I just can´t go on," he said. "After that encounter with the sound ninjas before the first test, I´ve had trouble hearing with my left ear. And after having sustained all those wounds in the forest, we´re demanded to fight with no break. And since it´s against one of you guys… well, I just can´t live with it."

"Are you sure that you give up?" asked Hayate.

"Yes, I´m giving up," said Kabuto and started to walk away. _Sorry, Naruto. Sorry, Sasuke. Wish I could stay around and play a little longer. But if I did that, the 'old me' might get stirred up. Can´t have that. Might blow my cover. It wouldn´t be much use as a spy after that. Besides, I´ve already done my job. With you here looking after things, you don´t need me, do you, Lord Orochimaru? Guess I´ll just have to save my fun for later. Until we meet again, Sasuke. Oh, and you too, of course, Naruto._

"And here I wanted to see how good Konran´s skills were," the cat-boy pouted.

_Come to think of it, none of us know any of Konran´s Ninjutsu or Genjutsu skills, _Sairento thought.

The Hokage looked long and hard at Konran. _Looks like you were lucky, Konran. But then again, you were lucky that I found you and took you in. This village might not be so full of intelligent students if you and I never crossed paths._

"Okay, then," Hayate said. "On to the next match."

The names on the screen began changing quickly again, and it was a shock to Team 7 when they saw the result.

_**Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado**_

_Didn´t waste any time, did they?_ Sasuke thought with a smirk before wincing again.

"I couldn´t ask for anything more," Kabuto´s teammate with sunglasses said, revealing himself to be Yoroi.

_No! Why did it have to be Sasuke?_ Sakura thought in worry.

As the next two competitors stepped up next to Hayate, Konran whispered to Sasuke as he passed him by, "Hey, Sasuke. Be careful. I sense something fishy going on."

"Are there any objections?" Hayate asked the two fighters.

"None here," Sasuke answered.

"No," Yoroi replied.

_Well, that´s it, _Sakura thought bitterly. _All I can do now is watch._

_You better win, Sasuke, if you ever hope to take me on, _Naruto thought.

_Something´s wrong. He´s acting strangely, _Ino thought.

_The pain won´t go away…!_ Sasuke thought and winced.

"Alright, then," Hayate continued. "Let´s begin the second match. Okay, everyone other than the two opposing candidates will now clear the area and move to the upper level."

Once that was said, all of the genin that were not fighting, the proctors and the jonin all went up to the alcoves above the arena. The last ones to leave were the rest of Team 7 and Kakashi. the jonin stopped next to Sasuke and said, "Sasuke, don´t use you Sharingan."

"So, you know about it," Sasuke whispered.

"If that mark on your neck gets out of control, your life could be in danger."

"I´m aware of that."

"Just to let you know, if it gets to that point, I´ll have to step in and stop the fight." And then Kakashi walked up to the alcoves along with Naruto and Sakura.

Sasuke was shocked when he heard what his sensei had said. _Stop the fight?_ He touched his mark. _This thing… it seems to be responding to my chakra. Every time I use my chakra, this thing gets a little stronger… it gains a little more control over me. I´ve got to fight him without using my Sharingan, and even my own Jutsu is off limits. Maybe I can make him laugh himself to death._

The very pale jonin looked down on Sasuke with a smile on his lips. _The thing is, Sasuke, Yoroi´s unique skills are going to be disastrous for you._

Sasuke smirked to boost his self-confidence. _Whatever. Let´s get on with this._

_Watch yourself, Sasuke, _Kakashi thought. _Don´t push it._

"Then, if you´re ready, let the match begin," Hayate declared.

"Oh, I´m ready," Yoroi stated and made a hand-seal.

"So am I," said Sasuke and prepared himself.

When Hayate got out of the arena, the battle started. Yoroi threw shuriken at Sasuke, but he deflected them back at him with a kunai, and sadly made his mark pain him, causing him to collapse. Yoroi had meanwhile dodged the projectiles and made it over to the downed Sasuke to punch him, but the boy rolled to the right to dodge, planted his kunai in the floor, and used his legs to knock the mask-wearing boy and restrain his arm.

"Hey, he got him!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Really?" Yoroi asked as he took hold on Sasuke with his restrained hand.

Then an aura of chakra appeared around the restrained hand, and it left Sasuke numb. "What´s… happening?" Sasuke gasped as he was forced to let go of Yoroi´s arm.

Yoroi used the moment to use his newly-released arm to smash his backhand into Sasuke´s chest before jumping away from him. He then ran at the downed boy to attack again. Sasuke sat up, before his head got caught by Yoroi´s right hand, which emitted the same chakra from before. Yoroi laughed as Sasuke got weakened by what he was doing.

"My chakra… What´re you doing?" Sasuke weakly asked.

"You´re just noticing it now?" Yoroi laughed.

"My chakra…! You´re stealing it from me!"

_That´s right, Sasuke,_ the pale jonin thought. _Yoroi has an extraordinary Ninja Art in his fingertips. He can absorb an opponent´s spiritual and physical energy with the palm of his hand. And once the last drop of your chakra has been drained from you, Sasuke, you´ll have no other choice but to rely on the power of the curse mark._ He smirked as he watched Sasuke getting weaker and weaker. _Go on… release that delicious forbidden power. Set it free! It´s the only chance you´ll have of saving yourself._

Sasuke, however, had no such intentions. "Get… off me!" he growled and kicked Yoroi off of him.

"So… you still got some strength left, huh?" asked Yoroi as he got up and watched Sasuke try to get up himself. "Impressive… for a guinea pig. Don´t worry, little man, I´ll make it short and sweet."

Sasuke managed to get up just as Yoroi began to attack again. Sasuke did his best to avoid getting caught or hit by the masked boy´s energy-sucking hands. At one point, one of Yoroi´s punches managed to hit his hair, causing Sasuke to nearly double over.

"What´s the matter?" Yoroi mocked. "Is that really the best you can do?"

Sasuke tried to kick his opponent, but he jumped away to dodge it. _Don´t have the speed to keep away from him…! I don´t have a chance in a close quarters fight…! I need to think of something, fast!_

Gaara looked at the fight with disappointment. _The 'great' Sasuke Uchiha… is that all he´s got?_

Naruto could not take any more of Sasuke´s beating and shouted, "Hey, Sasuke! Come on, man! What was that? And you call yourself an Uchiha? You´re gonna let this goon walk all over you! Come on! Stop messing around and get it in gear!"

Sasuke looked at the crowd when his teammate had called out to him, and when he spotted Lee, he got an idea.

"I´ll teach you to turn your back on me!" Yoroi said and charged at Sasuke. "Big mistake… and your last!"

Sasuke managed to dodge several of the punches that were flying at him, and then he chose to suddenly vanish from his opponent´s sight. And then, much to Lee´s surprise, Sasuke appeared below his opponent and delivered a kick that sent Yoroi flying into the air. Then, much to everyone´s amazement, Sasuke leaped up and appeared behind Yoroi.

"Okay, I admit it," Sasuke started, "I kind of borrowed that move, but from here on in, it´s all original." And then he pressed the index and middle finger against his opponent´s back.

"The Dancing Leaf Shadow?" Yoroi asked in shock.

"Now, take this!" But at the worst possible time, the curse mark began acting up, causing Sasuke to cough blood, his body to become numb, and then the mark began spreading across his body! "No, not again! It keeps getting stronger and stronger!

Naruto made a silent gasp when he saw the marks on his rival´s face, not knowing what they were.

Sasuke then remembered Naruto´s pep-talk/trash-talk and got angry. _Shut up, loser, _he thought. _Don´t write me off yet!_ The marks then slowly began receding. _No! I won´t let this thing take over! NO WAY!_ The mark then returned to its normal state as Sasuke regained control over his body. "Here we go!"

Sasuke tried to kick Yoroi´s left side, but he blocked it. But that attack proved to be a distraction, as Sasuke managed to push himself so that he was beside his opponent, punch him with his left arm to send him crashing down, caught up to him, and finished by crescent-kicking Yoroi´s stomach into the floor upon impact! "Lion´s Barrage!" Sasuke roared, naming his new attack.

Sasuke then slid across the floor, making a rather unimpressive landing after an impressive attack. Hayate went down to check on Yoroi´s unmoving body. "This guy´s had it," he said. And when he saw a panting Sasuke sit up, his decision was decided. "I´m declaring this match over. As the winner of this preliminary round, Sasuke Uchiha advances to the finals."

"Way to go!" Naruto cheered for his rival.

Sasuke almost fell back, but Kakashi appeared behind him to keep him sitting straight up, reading his pornographic novel while doing so. "Hmm, not bad," the jonin said. "Funny. Before the Lion´s Barrage, your technique was very reminiscent of Guy´s Taijutsu. You must´ve used your Sharingan to copy it when you fought Rock Lee at the time."

"You okay?" Naruto ecstatically asked. "Hey, Sasuke! You won, but in such an uncool way! You came out looking like _you´re_ the one who´s got beat up!"

"Idiot…" Sasuke returned. "Gimme a break, you little… Oh well…"

Naruto was now looking forward to when it was his turn in the ring. Sasuke, however, had his eyes focused on Lee. _Rock Lee… If I hadn´t seen your moves up close when we went head to head, this would have turned out badly._ His body then began to ache. _Still, I don´t think it´s a technique I wanna use very often._

Lee had his own thoughts about Sasuke. _Amazing! He only saw me do it once, but he´s able to copy it perfectly! So _that _is your special ability! You really are something, Sasuke. you just keep getting stronger all the time. You make me… almost… a little nervous._

Even Guy had his thoughts. _Impressive, but he can´t expect to master high-speed Taijutsu and Lotus-movements just like that. It takes more than Sharingan – it takes blood and sweat and brutal training that withers away your flesh. Even so… that last move of yours… hmm._ He looked at the sensei of Team 6 and 7. _He reminds me of you, Kakashi, when you were young._

Tenten looked at her white-eyed teammate. _Last year, Neji Hyuga was a rookie to beat. This year, it´s Sasuke Uchiha. I wonder when we´ll find out which one´s stronger?_

_This kid is something else, _Kakashi thought. _You have already developed a Sharingan to such a level. And to think, he hasn´t even seen his full Uchiha ability yet._

Anko was completely surprised by how Sasuke was able to recede his curse mark.

Gaara, however, tensed. _Oh no, not again, _Kankuro thought.

"I knew all the time he would be okay!" Ino squealed.

_This could be the end of the line for us, _Shikamaru thought.

"Wow. He was amazing," Hinata said.

"Nah, it wasn´t anything _that_ special," Kiba disagreed.

The pale jonin was shivering with pure delight when seeing the result of the battle. _Magnificent!_

As ninja who worked for the village hospital carried Yoroi away, one of them approached Sasuke. "Sasuke Uchiha," he said, "maybe you should come along to the infirmary, too, and let us treat your injuries."

"I think you´re outta your league with this one," Kakashi objected. "I´ll look after him." He kneeled down and put a hand on Sasuke´s shoulder. "Okay, up you go. You´re coming with me." He then whispered, "We´ve got to seal that curse mark."

"Before the preliminaries are over?" asked Sasuke. "I wanna see who gets to go to the finals."

"Forget it, and don´t even think of arguing. If we leave it any longer, who knows, it may be too late. I´ve already cut you enough slack as it is. C´mon, let´s go."

Sasuke was very unwilling to leave, but he had no other choice. While watching his sensei and rival leave, Naruto noticed that there was something odd about Sasuke. "Hey, Sakura," he said. "Maybe I´m ´djust crazy, but… did you see any weird marks on Sasuke´s neck during the fight?"

Sakura froze when she heard the question. She then remembered something that Sasuke had told her.

* * *

><p>"<em>You´ve got to promise me you won´t tell Naruto about the curse mark," Sasuke said.<em>

"_Why?" asked Sakura._

"_There´s nothing he can do about it, and we´re a team. It doesn´t do us any good if he´s worried about me."_

* * *

><p>"What mark? I didn´t see," Sakura lied.<p>

"Oh, okay," Naruto simply said.

"Looks like you get a chance to fight Sasuke in the third exam," Torabu said to Konran.

"Well, it is possible," the blue-haired boy replied.

Hayate then walked back into the arena. "Uh, okay, then," he said. "Let´s move right on to the third match."

Everyone looked at the panel as the two next names were chosen. Once it stopped, the result was this:

_**Shino Aburame vs. Zaku Abumi**_

"Which sucker is that?" Zaku cockily asked, despite his arm being injured.

"Step forward, please," Hayate ordered, and the two combatants obeyed. "Very good. If you´re both ready, then we can begin."

Sakura looked at Zaku and remembered how Sasuke brutally broke his arms. _How´s he going to fight after that?_

"Do you think Shino will be alright?" Hinata asked Kiba.

"He´s okay, don´t you worry about him," the dog-like boy replied. "He´s the last person here I´d ever wanna take on."

Hayate walked away from the arena. "Combatants ready? Begin."

_Well, Zaku, how you´ll pull this one off will be a sight to see, _Dosu thought.

The pale jonin made a hand-seal and disappeared.

Zaku and Shino stared each other down. "If you fight me, you won´t be able to recover," the latter warned. "Forfeit… and withdraw."

Zaku, however, ignored the warning and rushed at his opponent. "One good arm´s more than enough to beat you!" he said.

Shino managed to block the punch with one arm. "You couldn´t beat me using both your arms," he said.

"Yeah? Well, I got news for ya!" Zaku roared and let some sound waves escape his functional arm. "Try this! Slicing Sound Wave!" And then Shino was blown backwards by the sound wave. Everyone looked on as Shino lay on the ground, smoke rising from him.

* * *

><p>In another location, Sasuke sat in the middle of a circle that had symbols written in blood. Sasuke himself had symbols written in blood on his naked torso, all making a circle around the curse mark. Kakashi dried his bleeding fingers and looked down at his student. "Okay, it´ll be over quickly," he assured. "You ready?" Upon receiving a nod from the boy, the jonin began to make a lot of hand-seals. Once he had made enough, he exclaimed, "Curse Sealing!"<p>

Kakashi then placed his hand on the mark, and then the symbols around and on Sasuke began entering the boy! The procedure was very painful, and the boy´s screams were proof of that. Once all of the symbols were gone, Kakashi lifted his hand to reveal a black circle around it. Sasuke then got on his hands and knees and panted heavily.

"There," Kakashi said. "Now, the next time that curse mark starts acting up, the seal should keep it in check. But remember, this Curse Sealing Jutsu is only as strong as you are. It derives its power from the strength of your will. If that will ever weakens, if you ever begin to doubt yourself, the curse will be unleashed in all its fury." And when that was said, Sasuke fell unconscious onto the floor. "Amazing. Too tired to even argue."

"My, how you´ve grown."

Kakashi immediately froze upon hearing that voice. "To think, you´ve become strong enough to perform a Curse Sealing Jutsu."

Kakashi turned around and faced the villainous snake-man himself. "You…" he growled.

"Long time no see, Kakashi," said Orochimaru.

How will the rest of the preliminaries go? Will our heroes qualify? And now that Orochimaru have found Sasuke again, and unconscious even, will Kakashi be able to protect his student?

* * *

><p>dopliss: Well, that´s the first part of the preliminaries.<p>

Mizuki: (sarcastically) Wow, that´s quite a surprise, the way you altered the story there.

dopliss: Do you wanna spend the night in the microwave again?


	29. Chapter 29 Preliminary matches, part 2

**dopliss: And now we get into a part that will lead up to something bigger.**

**Mizuki: Okay, humor me. How many fights will be changed from the original?**

**dopliss: You think I´m gonna put up a spoiler in the Author´s note? No way, José!**

**Disclaimer: The original concept of Naruto is something that I will never own. This story, its characters and the changes, however…**

* * *

><p>Kakashi and Orochimaru stared at each other, one in anxiousness and the other with glee. "No offence, Kakashi," the latter started, "but I didn´t come to see you. My business is with that boy behind you."<p>

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "What do you want with Sasuke?" he asked.

"You´ve acquired something new," the snake-man said with a big smile. "How I envy your good fortune." Kakashi realized what the criminal was talking about. "I don´t believe you had it the last time we met… did you? The gift… the Sharingan in your left eye. It´s only fair that I should want it too. The Uchiha power…"

* * *

><p>Every genin on the alcoves looked with tension as the dust from Zaku´s attack cleared. The sound ninja with a broken arm smirked and asked, "Alright, fool, you had enough?" He was then shocked when he saw Shino stand up. "He´s…! There´s no way…!"<p>

Then a strange noise sounded in the room, and Zaku gasped when he saw where the sound came from: insects crawling all over Shino´s body. But the insects were not just coming out of Shino´s coat, but coming out of small holes in his body, as if he was a living hive! _This guy´s a freak show!_ Zaku thought. "Great. Now that you´ve creeped us all out, what happens next?"

A sound coming from behind the sound ninja alerted him, and once he turned, he saw a huge army of small bugs closing in on him. "They´re a rare species of parasitic beetle that attack their prey in a swarm, eating its chakra," Shino explained. "An army at this size will suck you dry in a minute. Your only intelligent option is to forfeit the match. You can´t fight two opponents at once. If you use your good arm against me, my friends will swarm you from behind. Conversely, if you use your good arm to keep them at bay, then you´ll have me on your blind side. Either way, your defeat will be certain and unpleasant." He made a hand-seal. "It´s wise to always have an ace in the hole."

As the beetles closed in on him, Zaku growled while thinking of his past.

* * *

><p>"<em>Hey, you! Come back here!" a man yelled.<em>

_In an unknown town in the past, a young Zaku ran for dear life. He was currently holding a bag of bread, and by the sound of the yelling behind him, it was stolen. "Where do you think you´re going, you little thief?" one of the men chasing him shouted. "Grab him, somebody! Catch him before he gets away!"_

_Zaku then ran into an alley, but unfortunately for him, it was an impasse. He turned around and stared in horror as the two men closed in on him, sadistic grins on their faces as they were about to punish the young boy._

_After the two men had left him alone, Zaku then lay on the ground, bruises covering his entire body. He looked in his hand at the one bread that he had managed to save for himself. As he looked and reminisced how bad he thought of his life, he was consumed by several negative emotions; first sadness, then grief, and finally anger. As he ate the bread, the anger inside of him consumed him even more. Once he was done eating, he tightened his fists and walked out of the alley, anger having overtaken him._

"_You have potential, boy."_

_Zaku stopped walking upon hearing the voice and turned around to see that nobody was there. He frowned and turned back around, only to be greeted by none other than Orochimaru. "I saw something in you I like," the man said as the boy looked at him in fear. "A look in your eye… If you leave this place and come with me, I will make you strong, boy. Follow me." And then the snake-man turned around and began walking._

_Zaku just stood there, surprised at the option that the man had given him. Figuring that this offer was what could save him from his current hell of a life, the boy sprinted to catch up to the man, sealing his fate._

* * *

><p>Zaku growled even more as he thought of something that his sensei had told him: "<em>Be my weapon and do my bidding, Zaku. Battle for me and you will become strong.<em>"

The sound ninja then got more and more consumed by his own rage as he thought about all of the rigorous training that he went through, not to mention his decision to alter his arms into the weapons they are now. And as he remembered how Sasuke broke his arms, the rage had taken full control over him. _That´s it…! That´s never gonna happen again! _He then roared an aimed his good arm at Shino. "Now you´ve done it!" he growled. "Now you´ve made me MAD!" And then he took his other arm out of the sling and aimed it at the beetles, revealing that both of his arms were fully functional! "Like you said yourself, always have an ace in the hole, right?"

Dosu chuckled to himself as he saw this happen. _So, it was all a ploy to make us believe he had only one good arm,_ he thought. _Clever move._

* * *

><p>"What´s your game?" Kakashi asked Orochimaru.<p>

"The sound village that everyone´s curious about… it´s mine," the snake-man said. "You see, I created it. I think you understand without my saying anymore."

"You and your wide-eyed ambition," Kakashi scoffed.

"Oh, yes indeed. As always. But, to play the game – as you put it – I need pieces on the chessboard. Willing pawns to do my bidding."

"And Sasuke´s one of your 'pawns'?" Kakashi assumed.

"Oh, not a pawn – he´s a far more valuable piece than that. But as for the others… well, you know how it is in a game of chess. Pieces must be sacrificed."

* * *

><p>"I´LL BLOW YOU AWAY!" Zaku roared as he used his arms-<p>

-only for them to burst out chakra at the shoulders, surprising the other sound ninjas, Team 8, and Kurenai. "My arms! What´s wrong with them?" Zaku shouted in obvious pain. He struggled to make them move, and when he did, he saw beetles crawling out of the holes in his palms!

"Earlier, when I was distracting you with my helpful advice, I was also sending some of my little friends to plug up those bothersome wind-holes in your hands," Shino explained as he walked up behind his opponent. "Both hands, just to be sure. You see, while one advantage is good, two advantages are better."

Zaku, ultimately fed up with his opponent, roared as he attempted to attack, but Shino beat him to it by backhanding the sound ninja in the face, sending him skidding along the floor and knocking him out.

* * *

><p>Orochimaru slowly began to walk towards Kakashi, attempting to induce fear in the jonin. Once the sannin had taken one step too far, Kakashi shouted, "STOP!" took a pose, and began charging lightning in his right hand. "Don´t come any closer! I don´t care if you <em>are <em>one of the sannin, the three ninjas of legend! I swear, take one more step towards Sasuke, and one of us will die here!"

Orochimaru simply laughed at the threat, finding it hilarious. "Poor Kakashi," he said. "All your noble efforts… all in vain."

"What?"

"Do you really believe that the seal will hold? Do you think you can keep him… from what he truly desires? You know I´m right. His desire that hungers for only one thing will not be denied. No matter what obstacles you put in his path, he´s an avenger, isn´t he?"

"You think you can take advantage of that?" Kakashi asked. "Not Sasuke!"

"You cannot stop him. At some point, he will come to me… in search of power." And with that said, Orochimaru turned to leave. "Unless, of course, you carry out your threat to kill me… now is your chance. Take it, if you dare."

Kakashi just stood there, frozen like a statue, as Orochimaru disappeared. The lightning disappeared and left the jonin standing there, shaking with fear. _'One of us will die here'… I must´ve been outta my mind._

* * *

><p>Hayate went down to check up on Zaku, who was unconsciously writhing in pain. "I´d say this one… has had it," he decided. "The winner is Shino Aburame."<p>

"Wait, how did he do that?" Rock Lee asked Neji. "Who is he? Find out."

Neji nodded and used his Byakugan to analyze Shino. When he saw the result, he was shocked and horrified. "I had no idea…! I thought he must´ve used a Summoning Jutsu to get all those insects, but no! They´re actually living inside of him!" he said and grimaced as he saw through Shino´s skin and flesh to see his skeleton and thousands upon thousands of insects!

"Living… inside of him?" Lee asked in shock and disgust.

"There´s a legend in Konoha of a clan of insect tamers," Guy informed.

"Yes, I´ve heard of that clan as well," Neji stated. "They say that, when a bug-master is born, he enters into a sacred pact with the insects. He allows them to nest in his body. In return, they´ll obey their host´s will. They serve him, answering his call, fighting his battles and destroying his enemies. I´ve also heard that they allow the insects to feed on their chakra as part of the bargain."

"So this guy is one of them?" Lee asked. "One of these 'bug-tamers'?"

"Well, that was unfortunate," Dosu said aloud as he watched Zaku being transported out by the hospital ninjas.

"What just happened? How come his arms just broke down like that?" Kin asked.

"At some point earlier in the match, this guy Shino managed to get his beetles into Zaku´s wind canon to plug the opening. As soon as Zaku tried to use his Slicing Sound Wave, he was doomed. With its usual outlet sealed off, the energy from his sound wave was trapped in his arm, expanding, searching for an exit. Sooner or later, something had to give. And in this case, it was Zaku." He narrowed his eyes. "I can´t determine if we had anything in common, except his team and our mission. Still, I´ll even the score for you, Zaku."

Kurenai sighed. _My, it´s getting chilly in here._

"Quite the surprise there," Torabu said aloud. "And here I thought Shino was just a guy with an ego."

"Guess you never should judge a book by its cover," Sairento stated.

"Congratulations, Shino," Hinata said when her teammate rejoined her team.

"Way to go. Good work," Kiba praised.

"Just see it that you two do the same," Shino scoffed and looked at the panel.

_Yeah? Who died and made you team leader, huh?_ Kiba thought while growling.

"Uh… alright, everyone," Hayate said. "Moving right on to the fourth match."

Just then, Kakashi appeared out of nowhere behind Team 6 and 7. "Hi," he casually greeted.

"What do you mean 'hi'?" Sakura asked. "Is that all you can say? What about… What about Sasuke? How is he?"

"Oh, he´s fine," the jonin answered. "Sleeping soundly in the infirmary." _But he´s been put under guard by the ANBU black ops._

Everyone then looked at the panel to see that the next two combatants have been chosen.

_**Misumi Tsurugi vs. Kankuro**_

_Finally, my turn, _Kankuro thought while smirking.

_Careful, Kankuro, _the jonin with the headdress thought. _You´ll underestimate your opponent one time too many._

As Kankuro and Misumi, who was the other of Kabuto´s teammates, walked into the arena, Naruto´s eyes were locked onto the former while he was growling. _This guy…!_ he thought.

"I´m not like Yoroi," Misumi said once he and his opponent were in position. "I don´t get careless, not even against kids. A piece of advice: once I go into my Jutsu, give up. Quick. If you do, I promise to make it short and painless."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing," Kankuro said as he took off the thing on his back. "Though I can´t promise it´ll be painless."

"Alright then, if you´re ready, let the fourth match begin," Hayate declared and exited the arena.

"Let me do you a favor and end this battle quickly," the sand sibling said.

"You can´t end it if I end it first!" Misumi countered and rushed in to attack.

When Misumi came up close to his opponent, he tried to punch him, but Kankuro blocked the attack with his arm. Just then, Misumi´s limbs began to extend and wrap around Kankuro´s body like a snake! Once the limbs stopped moving, Misumi held his opponent´s left arm with his left arm, his legs with his legs, and his right arm and neck with his arm.

"Ugh, that is gross," Konran stated, looking like he was about to vomit.

"That´s freaky!" Naruto commented. "I wish I could do that!"

"I dislocate every one of my joints, softening my body," Misumi explained. "Then, with my chakra, I can control it perfectly. The more you struggle, the tighter I squeeze." He looked at the thing in wrappings. "I don´t know what you´re carrying in there, but as long as I have a hold of you, it makes no difference. I can break your neck right now if I wanted to, and I _will _unless you give up!"

Kankuro just smirked. "You wanna bet?" he asked cockily.

"You wanna die?" Misumi asked, tightening his grip.

"You fool. _You´re_ the one who´s gonna die here."

Tired of his opponent´s empty threats, Misumi ended the fight my snapping Kankuro´s neck! _What a fool. Too bad he didn´t surrender. Oh well._

Just then, Misumi noticed something cracking and landing on the floor. It looked like… pieces of Kankuro´s face? Then, Kankuro´s head moved upwards and then turned around to look back at his opponent, showing a broken face with something artificial underneath it! "Now… it´s my turn, so say goodbye!" the thing said.

Then the rest of the thing´s disguise shattered, revealing it to be something wearing a brown poncho, had brown hair covering its head, and it had four arms, which wrapped around Misumi! The bandaged thing on the ground then tore through the wrappings, and emerging was Kankuro! Misumi then realized it. _This is just a puppet! That guy was controlling it while hiding! He´s a puppet master!_

Kankuro stood up, and chakra could be seen surrounding his hand as strange threads connected to the puppet. He slowly closed his hand, and the puppet responded by tightening its grip.

"Enough! I give…!" Misumi yelled.

"But if your bones are all crushed, just think how much more flexible you´d be," Kankuro sadistically countered.

_That was close. I almost stopped the fight in the middle of it,_ Hayate thought as Misumi lost consciousness. "Because his opponent is unable to continue, the winner is Kankuro."

"Two against one is hitting below the belt, isn´t it?" Naruto asked his sensei. "I mean, is that thing even fair?"

"It´s not really two against one," Kakashi stated. "It´s a puppet, not a ninja."

"So it is just another tool?" Konran asked.

"Yes, controlled by a Puppet Master Jutsu," Sairento answered.

As Misumi got transported out by the hospital ninjas, Sakura thought this: _Everyone here wields their chakra perfectly. And I thought my chakra abilities would give me an edge over the others. So much for that idea._

"Time for the fifth match," Hayate said as the panel began to choose the next combatants.

"Well, no matter who´s next, it´ll be two weirdoes," Naruto said. "This contest is chockfull of them."

"Well, you´re one to talk," Kakashi stated.

When the two opponents were picked, it was a huge shocker to both Team 6 and 7. The next two competitors, the next two who were going to fight each other in a battle to the death, were chosen to be two of those that no one had ever thought would fight each other.

_**Sakura Haruno vs. Torabu Maka**_

* * *

><p>dopliss: Ooh, we´re ending this on a cliffhanger!<p>

Mizuki: 'We´re'?

dopliss: Okay, _I_ am ending this on a cliffhanger. Happy?

Mizuki: Not until I get my screen time.


	30. Chapter 30 Preliminary matches, part 3

**(dopliss and Mizuki is playing chess)**

**dopliss: (moves his queen in front of Mizuki´s king) Check.**

**Mizuki: (beats dopliss´s queen with his queen) Check.**

**dopliss: (beats the queen with a rook) Checkmate.**

**Disclaimer: dopliss don´t own neither Naruto nor chess.**

* * *

><p>Torabu and Sakura kept looking at the panel in shock. "You mean that he and I are gonna fight each other?" asked the latter.<p>

"I´m afraid so," Kakashi answered. "You could be put up against anyone else, and some of them are also your friends. This is just what fate had in store for you."

Torabu´s ears drooped as he slowly walked down to the arena. Konran noticed this and said to Sakura, "Don´t make any big deal out of this. Just get this fight over with."

Sakura nodded and walked down to the arena, leaving with the words, "I´ll try."

As the two friends stared at each other and waited to begin, Hayate said, "If there are no complains, then let the battle begin," and then left the arena.

Meanwhile, Dosu looked down on the two opponents with glee in his eye. "So… those two brats who hindered us from getting Sasuke in the forest are gonna fight each other." He chuckled. "Serves them right."

"Torabu… just fight me, okay?" Sakura pleaded. "It is just for this once, that´s it."

The cat-boy looked down at the ground. "Sakura…" he said, "please give up."

The pink-haired girl was shocked upon hearing this. "What?"

"I really don´t wanna fight you, my friend." His hair overshadowed his eyes. "You, Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Konran… you´re my only friends. I will be damned before I ever hurt you."

Sakura noticed a gloomy aura around her feline friend. "Then why don´t _you_ be the one to give up instead?" she suggested.

The troublemaking ninja cast a quick glance at Naruto, before looking down again and saying, "I can´t… I made a promise." He tightened his fists. "I made a promise to pass this exam… and I intend to keep it. So please, give up before I´m forced to hurt you."

Sakura walked up to her friend and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Torabu… I want to pass just as badly as you, even though I´ve made no promise about doing so." She tilted his face upward to look him in his depressed eyes. "Let me guess… you´re afraid of losing your friends if you hurt us, right?"

"Uh-huh…" he answered.

She smiled. "We won´t stop being your friends just ´cause you hurt us in an unavoidable battle. Tell you what – whoever of us wins gets treated by the other for some ramen at Ichiraku, okay?"

He quickly perked up at that suggestion. "Promise?" he asked.

"Promise." Sakura´s grip on his shoulder tightened. "But, of course, that´s only if you win." And once that sentence was finished, she judo-tossed him over her shoulder and sent him towards a wall.

The cat-boy quickly managed to roll in the air so that his feet met the wall and helped him land by sending him into the air, giving him a little extra time to land properly. "You must´ve forgotten cats always land on their feet," he said.

Sakura then rushed at him and began attacking with a flurry of punches, which the troublemaking ninja had a tough time to dodge and block. He then caught her off guard and turned the tide of who were attacking and defending. Knowing that she could not keep up with her friends speed – and that it would only get worse if he used any of his Jutsus – Sakura caught both of his arms and head-butted his head, making extra damage due to her large forehead.

_Man, if even the narrator has to make fun of her forehead, it must be a big deal, _Torabu thought, breaking the fourth wall.

Having her opponent dazed from the head-butt, the pink-haired girl followed up by punching him in the stomach, then uppercutting him, and finally sending him crashing into a wall with a strong kick. He quickly recovered and used his Shadow Clone Jutsu to make three of him.

"You´re not the only one who can make clones!" Sakura said and made two copies of herself.

The two Sakura clones ran in front of the real one as the other clones ran at them. Letting her two clones get destroyed by two of the Torabus, the real Sakura leaped over them, caught two of their tails, and slammed them against the third one, revealing it to be the real one. She then grabbed the real cat-boy´s tail and slung him upwards with all of her might, managing to hit the ceiling with him.

"Once you come down, I´ll deliver the finishing blow!" she said and prepared herself. She then saw Torabu fall, and once he was within range, she made a downwards crescent-kick to knock him out-

-only for him to turn into a log. "Oh, no! A Replacement Jutsu!" she realized.

"And here comes the real deal!"

She looked up and saw the real Torabu zoom down towards her. He then used an upwards crescent-kick to send her a little airborne, once he was close, and then used a downwards crescent-kick to knock her on her back. He then landed and summoned six clones to hold her down.

"Keep restraining her, then she´ll lose!" one of the clones ordered.

"Aw, dude… really?" another of the clones complained to a third one. "Why are you in that form right now?"

"I just wanted to have some fun with this Jutsu," the clone defended in a strangely feminine voice.

Sakura, who had her eyes closed when she was knocked down, opened them, only to be met with a pair of big, furry breasts right in her face. The close-up sight of the assets shocked her to the point of giving her a nosebleed.

The female clone moved away and looked at Sakura´s blank eyes. She waved a hand over her face and got no reaction. "I think she´s unconscious," she stated.

"Nice job!" one of the male clones complained. "You just knocked out our friend in an embarrassing way!"

"Hey, you would´ve done the same!" the female clone defended.

"All right, that´s enough," Hayate said and coughed a little. "Torabu Maka is the winner… I think."

The clones disappeared and the real Torabu carried his knocked-out friend back up to his other friends. "What the hell was that?" Naruto asked.

"Hey, what can I say? Some of my clones have their own free will," Torabu shrugged and put Sakura down.

"Torabu…" Sairento said, gaining the cat-boy´s attention. Once he turned around to hear what she had to say, she slapped him hard in the face, showing that actions indeed speaks louder than words. "You pervert!" she added.

"Hey! It´s not my fault!" the troublemaking ninja defended.

"Technically, it kinda is," Kakashi countered. "You summoned the Shadow Clones."

"Yeah, but I didn´t want any of them to use the Sexy-Jutsu! I´m innocent!" Torabu began waving his arms up and down like a crazy person.

"Alright," Hayate said to get everyone´s attention. "Let the sixth match begin."

The panel again began to choose two random opponents to fight each other. And once those two were chosen it was these two:

_**Sairento Josei vs. Ino Yamanaka**_

The two girls made their way down to the arena and faced each other off (though there is not much to say about Sairento doing exactly that). "Begin," Hayate said and left the two to fight.

"Hey, Sairento, good luck!" Konran cheered.

"Yeah, if she´s up against me, she´s gonna need it," Ino boasted.

"I doubt it," the mute girl said.

"Oh really?" Ino asked and prepared herself. "I got something that you don´t… and that is the love of Sasuke!" Her eyes turned into hearts upon mentioning her crush´s name. "Even though he´s not here, I bet he´s cheering on me to win!"

"Ino…" Sairento tightened her fists, "you and Sakura disgusts me."

Ino´s eyes returned to normal as she was shocked to hear that remark. "_Excuse_ me?" she asked angrily, demanding an answer.

"You two does nothing but fawn over a boy who obviously don´t show any interest in any of you. Yet despite that being as blatantly obvious, just like your skinny body and Sakura´s forehead, you still act as if he is your boyfriend. You completely sicken me with your behavior."

"Damn, Sai´s being harsh, ain´t she?" Torabu stated bluntly.

"So what if our emotions towards Sasuke bother you!" Ino spat angrily. "At least we´re honest with our feelings! What about you, huh? You´re always hiding behind that mask of yours! I bet you´re just jealous that Sakura and I actually have someone to love!"

"You´re wrong," Sairento stated. "I have someone that I like… a lot."

This piqued Naruto and Torabu´s curiosities. "Who´ve you got a crush on?" the latter asked.

"I have no plans of telling this person my feelings towards him."

The cat-boy smirked. "How disappointing. I thought you were into girls, Sai," he said, secretly lying.

The mute girl looked up at her feline teammate and said, "Remind me to cut you once this is over with."

"Okay, you got feelings for someone, but how does that make you any different from Sakura and I?" Ino asked, returning to the previous conversation.

Sairento looked back at Ino and said, "You see, while I keep my emotions hidden, I focus on training myself to become a great ninja. You and Sakura, on the other hand, are too obsessed with Sasuke that you forget all about training yourselves." She took out a kunai. "My motto about daily life is 'become great first, gain a significant other later'. But, with you two, Ino, it´ll be 'become great later, and gain a significant other even later'."

Sairento dashed towards Ino and began slashing at her, her opponent narrowly dodging each hit. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Ino asked. "You´re not supposed to kill your opponent!"

"Correction: since we entered the Forest of Death, this has been a battle for life and death! And I intend to pass this exam, no matter what!"

Ino knew that her life was now in danger. She then took one of her own kunai and attempted to hit her opponent and send her to the hospital by throwing it at her. Unfortunately, Sairento was replaced with a log and reappeared behind the thin girl. The mute girl then grabbed Ino´s long hair and held her kunai high.

"Long hair is not a good idea to have if you´re a fighter," Sairento said as she prepared to attack.

Just then, Sakura woke up, and the first thing on her mind was Torabu´s trick to win over her. "Torabu…!" she growled.

"If you want to slap him, then Sairento has already beaten you to it," Konran said.

"You´re still treating me at Ichiraku, right?" Torabu asked, looking as innocent as possible.

Just as Sairento swung the kunai at her opponent, Ino dodged the sharp knife, but her hair got cut off. Enraged over the loss of her long hair, the thin girl kicked her opponent in the chin, knocking her mask off. "How dare you ruin my hair like that!" she seethed.

Sairento was forced to hide her face with her left hand, though it did not cover all of her face. She glared at Ino with her visible red eye and said, "Josei Style: Shadow Tendril Jutsu!"

Then, to everyone´s shock, four black tentacles emerged from the mute girl´s back! All four of them wrapped around Ino and repeatedly slammed her against a wall.

"W-What´s going on, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked in horror. "Are those things really sprouting out of her back?"

"No… if you look closely, you can see that they disappear before they connect with her," Kakashi pointed out. "Still, that is an interesting Jutsu…"

While her tentacles beat up Ino, Sairento went over to where her mask was and quickly put it back on. When she looked back at Ino, she noticed that her opponent was both bleeding and coughing up blood. "Now it is time to end this," she said, took out a kunai, and slowly walked towards her bleeding opponent.

Quickly interfering before anything bad could happen; Hayate appeared between the two girls. "That´s enough!" he said aloud. "Winner: Sairento Josei."

Sairento placed the kunai back in her holster, made her tentacles disappear, and walked back to her teammates. "Sorry about that," she said to them. "Sometimes I get mad."

"What _were _those things?" Konran asked. "How come you have not used them before?"

"This Jutsu comes with a price." The mute girl showed her underarm, and a strange black bruise had appeared. "Using that technique strains the body. The more you use it, the closer you become to die. And my healing abilities can do nothing against it."

"Oh… so it´s a bloodline trait, then?" asked Naruto.

"Indeed… the same goes to the healing technique I posses."

"Speaking of that technique, how about healing Ino?"

Sairento turned and saw a frowning Shikamaru. "You damaged her pretty badly, and since you can heal her, we can get her up and running faster than waiting for her to come out of the hospital," he said and sighed. "God, the latter is such a drag."

"Whatever," the mute girl said and walked over to heal Ino.

So far, so good. Most of our heroes have already passed, but who will join them? Who will be the ones to fight the next six matches? Will any of them end with a bloody result like the last one did?

"And will Sakura ever treat me to ramen?" Torabu asked, breaking the fourth wall again.

* * *

><p>dopliss: You know, I kinda foreshadowed one of my later stories in this chapter.<p>

Mizuki: Where?

dopliss: If I said it, I would spoil the secret.


	31. Chapter 31 Preliminary matches, part 4

**dopliss: (angrily) Kirby´s been in my fridge for far too long. Time to get some payback!**

**Mizuki: I fear for what you have in mind.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine…**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Tenten vs. Temari<strong>_

Once their names were chosen, the Chinese-looking girl and the female sand ninja went down to the arena and faced each other off._ I´m so ready! After watching that last match, I´m fired up!_ Tenten thought, remembering Sairento and Ino´s fight.

"So, this is another genin from the sand village," Neji though aloud while Rock Lee was shouting word of encouragement to his female teammate. "This should be interesting to watch."

"Begin!" Hayate declared and left the arena once again.

"Alright, Tenten! Keep her guessing!" Lee shouted.

"Go for it! You got the power of youth!" Guy shouted as well.

"C´mon, Tenten, send that girl back to her village on a stretcher! We´re right behind you all the way, Tenten!"

"Let´s hear it! 2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? Tenten!"

Obviously, the two´s cheering gave nothing but headaches to Naruto and Torabu. "How´d I get stuck in a cheering session?" the former of the two boys growled.

"If I ever want to be deafened, then I know who to go to!" the cat-boy hissed while holding his two ears.

The Hokage kept a watchful eye on the battle and took a lot of notice on how Tenten was distancing herself from her opponent. "Tenten is carefully determining her distance," he thought aloud. "Just what I´d expect from her. She´s well positioned to attack or defend."

"Uh, what´re you waiting for?" Hayate asked the two combatants. "I did say 'begin'."

"Guess she´s waiting for me to make a move," Temari assumed. "Big mistake, ´cause the first move I make will be the last one you see," she said to her opponent and slowly walked forward. "C´mon, I don´t want this match to be over too quickly, so why don´t you go first?" She pointed at herself with her right thumb. "C´mon, girl, show me what you got."

"Okay, if you insist," Tenten said. "Remember, you asked for it!"

Tenten leaped high up into the air and threw four shuriken once she was at the top of her jump. Strangely enough, even though it appeared that Temari did not move at all, the projectiles all missed her.

Tenten, upon landing, was shocked. "I missed her? There´s just no way!" she gasped.

"What was that, a warm-up exercise?" Temari cockily asked. "Or maybe you´re a little nervous and it´s affected your aim? Is that it? Rats, I was hoping I´d at least work up a sweat, but forget that idea if this is the best you´ve got."

"What is going on?" Lee asked bewildered. "How could she have missed? It is incredible!"

"It´s impossible!" Guy said. "Tenten´s aim is perfect! She always hits her mark!"

"Not this time, she didn´t," Neji calmly said.

"She never misses…" Guy thought aloud. "There must´ve been something… that _made _her miss."

"You know, you can always count on Temari to put on a good show," Kankuro said to his brother.

"Big deal," Gaara responded.

"Man, this is embarrassing," Shikamaru sighed. "The sand village wins again."

"What´re you talking about?" Naruto asked. "The match has just started."

"It´s over," the lazy boy said.

"Gimme a break! What makes you so smart?"

"Well, what´s your reason for saying that?" Sairento asked.

"It´s obvious," Choji said. "Like he just said; this one´s all over."

_Okay, stay calm… don´t let her get to you, _Tenten thought and looked at the amount of tiles between her and her opponent. _One… two… three… She must´ve dodged them somehow, but if I try a different approach…_

_Look at her, measuring her distance, _Temari thought in amusement. _Here comes her 'big move'._ She placed her right hand on the fan.

Tenten took notice of this. _So that´s her secret: that fan she carries!_

The Chinese-looking girl then ran a full circle in a clockwise direction around her opponent, before jumping high up into the air, taking out a scroll from her pocket, unfold it, and then spun around at a high speed while twirling the scroll around her like a ribbon. After doing all of that, Tenten summoned several sharp weapons from the scroll and threw them all at her opponent. Temari simply moved the fan off of her back and on the ground, and somehow the weapons all missed her.

Tenten landed and was equally as shocked as before. "No way!" she gasped. "She stopped everything I threw! What has she got in that fan of hers?"

Temari simply laughed and pointed at a purple moon on her fan. "Take a look," she said. "This is the first moon. There are two more. When you see all three moons, you´ll know you´ve lost the match."

"Tenten, do not play your opponent´s game!" Lee advised. "Maintain focus! Maintain focus!"

_I know, Lee, I know!_ Tenten thought with her teeth gritted. _Well, I was planning to save this for the finals, not waste it on a preliminary round, but it may be now or never!_ She then took out two other scrolls.

"She´s using _that_ already?" Guy asked himself.

"It won´t work, whatever it is," Temari mocked as her opponent got on her knees and placed each scroll on its tip right next to her.

Tenten ignored her opponent and made hand-seals. "Rising Twin Dragons!" she shouted.

A big puff of smoke surrounded the Chinese-looking girl as two dragons made of smoke spun around each other and ascended! The smoke-dragons then dissolved and were revealed to be the two now unfolded scrolls. Tenten leaped high up into the air to reach were the top of the scrolls were, and once she was there, she summoned several weapons and threw them all at Temari!

"Doesn´t matter how many you throw at me, it´s all the same," Temari said and unfolded her fan so that it showed a second moon. "Moon #2!" With one mighty swing of the fan, the sand ninja made a powerful whirlwind that stopped the weapons and sent them all to the ground!

Tenten landed and shouted, "I´m not done!" She then jumped high into the air again, and thanks to some hidden threads tied to her fingers, she managed to lift the weapons into the air and throw them at her opponent! _Ha! I got her now!_

Temari simply chuckled, and with another swing of her fan, she sent both Tenten and her weapons to the ground! When the Chinese-looking girl sat up, she saw that the third and final moon was visible on the sand ninja´s fan. "Moon #3…" she said threateningly.

Temari then hid behind the fan, and when it swung around and got smaller, she and the fan were gone! _What? _Tenten thought in shock. _Where did she go? She… She´s gone!_

"Over here~!"

Tenten looked at where the voice came from and saw Temari actually _flying_ on her fan! She flew over to where she previously stood and held up her fan. "Now it´s my turn. Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

Once that was said, Temari swung her fan and created a massive cyclone, capturing Tenten in it and sending her airborne! While she was in the current, something cut her across her body several times!

"Temari´s chakra is controlling the vortex," Neji said. "She fought well… but she´ll never escape from that whirlwind. It´s over."

The cyclone died down, and Tenten landed hard on Temari´s folded fan, knocking her out. "Whoa… that was ruthless…" Torabu whispered, completely surprised by the girl´s powers.

"Wasn´t much of a match – kinda boring," Temari said.

"To be able to stop every one of Tenten´s attacks like that…" Guy muttered.

"It was impressive, alright," Naruto said.

"Yeah, so another win for the sand village," Choji said. "Just like you said it would be."

"Well, of course, that´s why I said it," Shikamaru stated.

"Well, looks like we´re guaranteed a clean sweep in this round," Kankuro stated.

"The sand team… is clearly one to be feared," the Hokage said to himself.

"The winner of the seventh match: Temari," Hayate declared once he reentered the arena.

Temari then smirked and threw her fallen opponent off of her fan. Had it not been for Lee to catch his teammate, Tenten would have landed on the weapons spread around. "Hey, nice catch," the sand ninja sardonically said.

"What is wrong with you?" Lee asked once he had put his teammate down. "She may have lost, but that is no way to treat an opponent who has done her best!"

"Oh, beat it, and take that sack of _garbage_ with you!"

Lee, enraged by the insult, leapt at Temari and attacked her. "Leaf Hurricane!" he shouted.

Temari, however, was too quick and blocked Lee´s kick with her fan. "Not even close," she said. "You know what, you´re as dumb as you look."

"What did you say?"

"Lee! Stop!" Guy yelled and jumped into the arena.

"But, Guy-sensei…!"

"Temari, forget them," Gaara said to his sister. "The match is over, so get up here. You won, why are you wasting your time with that pathetic loser and his ridiculous mentor?"

Lee and the red-haired sand ninja glared at each other – one with anger, the other with superiority. Guy then put a calming hand on his student´s shoulder and said, "Just calm down, Lee." He then smirked and looked at the Sand Siblings. "A word of warning: You sand villagers have no idea what Lee is capable of. Remember, he still hasn´t fought yet, so I´d be careful if I were you."

"That kid´s crazy, picking a fight with them," Kiba whispered. "Those sand village guys are trouble. They´re the last people I´d wanna go up against."

"They do look almost unbeatable," Hinata said worryingly as Akamaru trembled in fear.

"Don´t worry, Naruto, I´m sure you can take ´em!" Sakura said to her teammate.

Naruto, not having realized that his female teammate had woken up from her fight with Torabu, asked, "Sakura, are you alright? I´d never thought you´d be back so soon."

"I´m fine, but never mind me – it´s _you_ who you should be thinking about."

Naruto looked over his body. "Huh? Me? I don´t have any injuries. I haven´t even fought yet."

"What I meant was you don´t wanna disgrace yourself after you´ve worked so hard to get here. Think of what Sasuke would say."

The screen then began to choose the next two competitors, and despite Naruto and Lee´s pleas for them to fight, the result was as follows:

_**Shikamaru Nara vs. Kin Tsuchi**_

"Guess it´s my turn," the lazy boy said as he entered the arena.

Ino, who also have woken up from her fight, cheered loudly for her teammate. "All you gotta do is telling yourself 'I cannot lose'!" she shouted.

_Man, when did she get so darn enthusiastic?_ Choji thought.

"Remember, he manipulates shadows," Dosu reminded Kin. "Watch the shadows."

"You think I´d ever fall for a stupid Jutsu like that?" Kin asked and walked into the arena.

"Oh, man, this is such a drag_,_" Shikamaru thought aloud. "I mean, gimme a break. I´ve gotta fight a girl?"

"Yeah, you just keep thinking that way, little man," Kin replied, taking slight offense to the boy´s sexist remark.

_I know what these guys are capable of from the time we met them in the forest during the second exam,_ the lazy boy thought. _Problem is, I didn´t get a look at _her _Jutsu. And to make things worse, she saw mine. Oh well, nothing I can do._

"Begin!" Hayate declared and left the two to fight.

"It´s all I´ve got…" Shikamaru said and made a hand-seal.

"You´re not trying that stupid shadow-thing again, are you?" Kin mockingly asked.

"Shut your mouth! Ninja Art: Shadow Possession Jutsu!"

As the shadow made its way to reach Kin, the female sound ninja asked, "Is that all you know? If that´s the only trick you got, this is going to be easier than I thought."

Once that was said, Kin jumped to the side to avoid the shadow and threw two senbon needles at her opponent, who crouched down to dodge them. Shikamaru looked back at where the needles were thrown when he heard a sound and saw a small bell attached to each of the senbon.

"Oh please, not _that_ old trick," he scoffed as he stood back up. "Let me guess: next you´ll be throwing senbon with bells and senbon without bells at the same time. I´ll react to the bells, and while I´m focused on dodging them, I won´t notice the silent needles coming at me. Am I right? Heh, good luck!"

"You sure talk a lot, don´t you?" Kin asked as she threw more needles.

"Now I know to be careful and dodge all the senbon, not just the ones with the bells," the boy said as he kept dodging the needles.

Just then, Shikamaru heard a sound, and when he looked at the source, it was from the first two needles thrown. There was a very thin thread tied to each of them. Having her opponent distracted, Kin threw two senbon without bells at the lazy boy, hitting him in his right arm.

"Shikamaru!" Ino gasped, worried for her teammate´s safety.

"Well, that didn´t take long," Naruto muttered.

"Hold on! Don´t be so sure, he´s not beaten yet," Sakura stated.

"One inch higher and that would´ve been a fatal hit," Shikamaru said as he pulled out the needles. "Okay, now I get a turn!"

"Sorry, that WAS your turn!" Kin said and pulled the threads.

As the bells rung, the lazy boy began feeling odd. "W-What´s going on?" he asked as he fell to his knees.

"You see, you don´t ever ask for whom the bell tolls, because it tolls for thee," Kin said. "This bell sends out a peculiar sound vibration that travels to the outer and inner ear, then directly to the brain. First comes paralysis, and soon you´ll start hallucinating." Shikamaru heard the bells ring again and tried to cover his ears. "It won´t work. You can´t block the sound off once it´s inside your head. It´s useless."

The lazy boy began seeing several images of his opponent. "I can´t… tell which one of them is the real one!" he said under his breath.

"You can´t move your arms or legs, and even if you could, you wouldn´t know which one of us to throw your shadow at," the multiple Kins said. "Face it, you´re caught, little man." All of them then readied to throw needles again. "I´m gonna cut you nice and slow over a hot fire."

"You think it´s that easy?"

The images all threw at the same time, but only the real ones needles managed to pierce Shikamaru´s left shoulder! "That was three! Next time, I´ll throw five! Each time a couple more, till you end up looking like a hedgehog."

"Stop playing games, why don´tcha?" Shikamaru growled. "If you are so tough, get it over with. Stop wasting my time."

"I´m sorry. So you´re not a fan of my 'slow and painful' method, huh? Fine, suit yourself. We´ll do it the quick way, then – and painful." The Kins all held up three needles again. Just then, she realized that something was wrong, and she was immobilized. "W-What´s wrong? Can´t move my arm!" Then the several images of her disappeared and her arms fell to her sides.

Shikamaru stood up and smirked. "Looks like my 'lame shadow Jutsu' was a success, after all."

"But, you haven´t thrown any shadows!" Kin protested. "No way, I made sure of it!"

"You really still don´t see it?"

"What do you mean?"

The lazy boy pointed at the ground where her thread´s shadow where at. "Look at that thread you´re holding. Don´t you find it a little strange that it would even cast a shadow this thick? ´Course you wouldn´t notice it, because you were concentrated on other things, like killing me." Once that was said, the thread´s shadow began to take another shape and spread around the female sound ninja.

"The shadow… I didn´t see it coming!" Kin growled.

"Right, I stretched my shadow out along the line of that thread and followed it all the way back. Now I´m attached to you!" And Shikamaru proved this by stretching his right arm in front of him, to which Kin did the same.

"And now?" the girl asked. "So we mirror each other´s movements. So what? A cute trick, but what do you gain by it?"

"Man, you´re annoying. Shut up and watch."

Shikamaru then moved his right arm down to his shuriken holster and took one out, Kin being forced to do the same. "You must be insane!" Kin gasped. "If you throw that shuriken at me, you´ll just be attacking yourself!"

The lazy boy prepared to throw Kin doing the same. "Makes it kind of interesting, doesn´t it? he asked.

"You wouldn´t… You couldn´t!" Kin stated.

"Yeah, like a game of chicken, let´s see who dodge first!" And then both threw their shuriken at each other at an angle where the two projectiles would not clash.

"YOU´RE CRAZY!" Kin shouted. Just before the two weapons hit their targets, Shikamaru bent backwards, avoiding the shuriken. _Big deal, I´ll do that too!_ Kin thought and quickly bent backwards, only to hit her head on the wall behind her, knocking her out.

"And that´s what I call using your head!" the lazy boy said and stood straight up again. "The wise ninja carefully scouts the physical layout of the battlefield, and never loses sight on his position on it. That was her problem. I made sure she was so busy focusing on me, she didn´t notice inches behind her head. So when we both dodged backwards, KAPOW! Now who´s hearing bells?"

"Winner of the eight match: Shikamaru Nara," Hayate declared.

"Who would´ve thought Shikamaru was that clever?" Torabu asked with a smile.

"You have already been told not to judge a book by its cover," Konran said.

Kiba looked at his fingers and counted the remaining competitors aloud to Hinata. "There´s one sound village ninja left. There´s me, you, Naruto, Choji, Neji, Lee, and that sand village guy. Just don´t put me up against him, that´s all I ask."

"This year´s rookies looks like they could be quite a challenge," Neji thought aloud and looked at Hinata. When the girl looked at him, she slightly gasped and looked back at the screen.

Speaking of the screen, the next two names were now shown:

_**Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka**_

"YEAH! It´s here! It´s here at last!" Naruto howled in joy. "The moment I´ve been waiting for! Finally I get a chance to show what I´ve got!"

"Look at that, it´s us against the kid!" Kiba said to his dog. "Hey, Akamaru, I think you and I just won the lottery!" The dog barked happily in agreement.

Lee, however, was disappointed over the fact that it was not his turn yet. "I am going to die of old age before I get my turn," he wailed. "I just want a chance to show Sakura what I´m made of. She´s going to get tired of waiting. All I want is a chance, is that too much to ask?"

Kakashi had taken notice of the jumpsuit-wearing boy´s wailing and looked at his sensei. _Lee… he´s just like Guy used to be. _Looking at his rival looking at him, Guy flashed Kakashi a smile, causing him to sweat-drop.

"It´s my time to shine!" Naruto said to himself.

Now that there are only eight competitors left, who will be the ones to enter the finals? And in this coming fight, will it be Kiba and is dog or Naruto? and who will be put up against each other next?

* * *

><p>Mizuki: Kirby´s in your fridge again.<p>

dopliss: Do it once, shame on him. Do it twice, shame on me. (takes out a detonator) Do it three times, it will blow.

(dopliss presses the button and an explosion can be heard from the fridge, followed by the "life lost" tune from the Kirby games {of which dopliss neither owns as well})

Mizuki: You know, you´re pretty scary when it comes to food.

dopliss: If you think that was scary, just wait for my later stories, where I will really get nightmare fueling.


	32. Chapter 32 Preliminary matches, part 5

**dopliss: And now, welcome to the final parts of the preliminaries!**

**Mizuki: Also known as "the parts that each only contains one fight"!**

**dopliss: (ticked) And if you keep going with that sarcasm, these Author´s notes will be known as "the parts of the chapters where Mizuki gets his ass kicked".**

**Disclaimer: If you guessed Naruto isn´t mine, then you´ll be correct.**

* * *

><p>"Now for the ninth match," Hayate said as Kiba and Naruto stood battle-ready in the arena, facing each other.<p>

"I´ve been waiting forever for this!" the orange-clad boy exclaimed. "Sorry, Kiba – don´t take it personally if I blow you away."

The dog-like boy was obviously annoyed by the remark. "That´s just what I was gonna say, only not as politely!" he growled while pointing an accusing finger at his opponent. "Right, Akamaru?" The dog barked in agreement.

"Oh, yeah?" Naruto asked and pointed back. "Well, talking´s easy! Let´s see what ya gotta say at the end of the match!"

"Little squirt…!" Kiba cursed as he took his dog out of his jacket and put him down onto the floor.

"Wait a second, are you kidding me? What´s the puppy doing here? He´s just gonna get in the way!"

"Deal with it! I never go into battle without Akamaru!" The dog barked in agreement with his master.

"C´mon, isn´t that against the rules or something?" Naruto complained.

"No," Hayate answered. "Like Shino´s bugs, they are a part of him. He is within the rules."

"Whatever. Fine with me – I do my best work with a handicap."

"Ha! We´ll just see about that!" Kiba mocked and stood up. "Akamaru, you stay right here and leave all this to me. I´ve got it." The dog growled in obedience.

"Go on, Naruto!" Sakura cheered loudly. "You can´t lose to this jerk!"

_The moment´s finally here, _Kakashi thought.

"Tell me when it´s over…" Torabu said, covering his eyes like a little kid, scared by the dog present.

"Baby," Sairento remarked.

Kurenai looked down at the combatants with watchful eyes. _Sorry, Kakashi, but your boy doesn´t stand a chance against Kiba,_ she thought and looked at the jonin in question. _Not a chance._

Meanwhile, Hinata was having an internal conflict about which of the boys to cheer on. _Kiba´s on my team… I should be rooting for him – but I really want to support Naruto. Kiba wouldn´t like it… but even so…_

"Aw, man… Kiba´s so lucky," Choji groaned, still believing that Naruto was weak.

_I wonder how much stronger he´s gotten since he became a genin?_ Kiba asked himself in thought. _´Cause if he´s anything like he used to be…_

* * *

><p><em>A few years before, during a session in the school, the students were all asked by Iruka to transform into the Hokage. Naruto was currently the one up to do the task. "Transform!" he shouted while making a hand-seal, and then a puff of smoke surrounded him.<em>

_When the smoke cleared, a replica of Konoha´s leader stood where Naruto was, but there were a few flaws. One of them was that he was Naruto´s exact height, and another was the big, swollen lips he had. Unsurprisingly, this caused Iruka to groan, and the rest of the students to laugh._

_All except one, and that was none other than Kiba, sans Akamaru. The boy had been asleep throughout the lesson – that is, until now that he was awoken by the laughter. "What´s going on?" he sleepily asked. "I was having such a nice nap."_

_Naruto transformed back to normal and sheepishly laughed while rubbing the back of his head. "Just kiddin´, just kiddin´!" he said. "You didn´t think that was for real, did ya?"_

"_That´s enough, Naruto!" Iruka scolded, obviously not amused. "It´s your third year at school, now straighten up!" The boy was taken aback by that statement._

"_How pathetic," Kiba muttered. "Who the heck is that kid?"_

"_I´m glad we switched to this class – that guy´s hysterical!" one of the students laughed._

"_Yeah, he sure keeps things interesting, doesn´t he?" another replied._

_Kiba simply scoffed and looked at Naruto with a scornful look. "Mister Popularity…" he muttered._

"_Try it again, and no fooling around!" Iuka ordered._

_Naruto became serious and transformed again-_

_-only to gain the same result. Again stood there a copy of the Hokage; short and with swollen lips. "In-credible…" Iruka said, annoyed. "Are you serious?"_

_Once again, the whole class burst into laughing, but Kiba laughed the loudest, completely amused by Naruto´s bad copy skills. "Is this kid for real?" he asked. "You´ve been here for three years and can´t do a simple transformation? What a joke!"_

_Naruto transformed back into himself and looked at Kiba with a frown. "I don´t have to pretend to be Hokage," he said. "You just wait! Someday, I´m gonna be Hokage for real! Then you´ll be sorry!"_

_The statement only made the class laugh harder. "Yeah, right, on what planet?" Kiba asked and then continued to laugh._

* * *

><p>"Look, I feel sorry for you," Kiba said, "so I´m gonna finish you off with one shot, ´kay?"<p>

"Yeah? Is that right?" Naruto cockily asked. "Man, you´re even dumber than you look if you think you can beat me."

"You sure talk tough for such a little squirt!" The dog barked in agreement.

"When you´re ready, you can begin," Hayate said while exiting the arena, declaring the match for officially started.

Kiba smirked, got on his knees, and made a hand-seal. _Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry: All-Fours Jutsu!_ And once that was thought and done, he went down on all fours and his nails became like claws. "Here I come!" He then ran up to his opponent at inhuman speed and elbowed him in the stomach, sending him to the other end of the arena and down onto his back! He then stood up and said to Hayate, "This little guy´s gonna be out for a while. You can call the match."

"I thought Kiba might be too much for him, but that was fast!" Ino stated.

"Poor Naruto… that was embarrassing," Rock Lee said.

"What was that?" Kankuro asked no one in particular. "I blinked and it was over. That kid´s pitiful!"

"Looks like it´s over," the mute girl stated.

"No," Konran countered. "If I know Naruto, then this is only the beginning." And here he remembered Naruto´s words about what his greatest dream was.

_I thought he was crazy when he told us his dream, even made fun of the boasting…_ Sakura thought, remembering all that she and her teammates have been through during their time as ninjas.

Kiba thought that the fight was over, but much to his and other´s surprise, Naruto began sitting up, and then fully standing. "Don´t ever… Don´t EVER underestimate me!" he said confidently.

"Atta boy, Naruto!" Sakura cheered.

"Yeah, yeah, more tough talk!" Kiba scoffed. "Look at yourself in a mirror! You´re a mess!"

"Ha! I just wanted to see what you´ve got!" Naruto mocked. "Frankly, you hit like an old lady! You´d have a better chance at winning this if you sent that puppy out to fight for you!"

"You´re gonna regret that…!" Kiba hissed, not taking the insult to his dog very well. "C´mon, Akamaru!"

The two ran towards Naruto at full speed. Kiba then took out two purple balls out of his pockets and threw them at his opponent, and then purple smoke appeared out of nowhere, revealing the balls to be smoke bombs. Unable to see, Naruto was then hit on several points on his body by Kiba.

_This sucks! I can´t see a thing!_ Naruto thought. _I gotta get outta this smoke, and fast!_ And then he ran until he was out of the smoke, only to be attacked by Akamaru once he got out, sending him falling back into the smoke!

"Darn! The best part, and I can´t see anything!" Shikamaru complained.

Kiba leaped out of the smoke, letting his dog handle the rest of Naruto´s beat-down. Once the smoke cleared, an unconscious Naruto and an Akamaru with his tail wagging was revieled. "Yeah! This fight is over!" the dog-like boy boasted. He was then surprised when Akamaru, his most trusted partner, came running at him and bit down hard on his left arm. "Hey… Akamaru? What´re you doing?" he asked in shock.

"Surprise! Gotcha!" the dog actually said! A puff of smoke then surrounded it, and then Naruto appeared in its place, biting down onto his opponent´s arm!

"You used a Transformation Jutsu! You little…! Get offa me!" Kiba said and wrestled free from his opponent´s teeth.

Naruto cringed and spat to the side. "You smell even worse than the dog!" he commented.

"Where is he?" Kiba asked, referring to his dog.

As the unconscious Naruto disappeared, being a clone and all, the real one took out Akamaru from his jumpsuit and held him by the front legs. "He´s right here!" he said, upon which the dog wimpered in shame.

"Whoa… is that really Naruto?" Ino asked in surprise. "Who would´ve thought that Naruto would be a match for Kiba?"

"To balance a Transformation Jutsu and a Clone Jutsu at the same time…" Shikamaru said. "There´s no way he should be able to do that!"

"He´s got his Jutsu down, there´s no doubt about that," Temari said.

"Well, well, kid´s better than I thought," Kankuro stated.

_He´s certainly an interesting one,_ Neji thought. _It´s not every day you see a ninja bite his opponent._

"That was amazing, Naruto!" Sakura cheered.

"Whaddaya know… Gotten a little stronger, I see," Kiba smirked. "But not nearly strong enough, ´cause now I´m getting serious!"

"Oh? Well, good," Naruto said. "I was hoping you would, ´cause I want to seriously knock you out!"

_He´s gone to a higher level just during the course of this match, _Kakashi thought.

"That boy never seizes to amaze me," the Hokage smiled.

_Can this really be the same little goofball?_ Kurenai asked in thought, completely surprised over Naruto´s cunning and skill.

Kiba smirked devilishly. "Naruto… if I were you, I´d let go of Akamaru." And then he took out a small pill from his pocket and threw it into his dog´s mouth, the canine eating it instantly.

Then Akamaru took a drastic transformation. His fur became red and his teeth sharpened! He kicked Naruto and escaped his grasp, growling threateningly at him. "What the heck happened?" Naruto asked, confused. "What was that thing you fed him? How come all his fur turned red?"

"Are you sure you wanna stick around and find out?" Kiba asked as he ate a similar pill.

_Food pills…_ Kakashi realized.

_That´s it… Kiba´s going in for the kill, _Kurenai thought with a smile.

"Let´s go, Akamaru!" Kiba growled as he crouched down and made a hand-seal, while his dog jumped up onto his back. "Beast Mimicry!" he shouted, and a puff of smoke appeared.

Torabu looked at the fighters, curious about what was going on, and was utterly horrified. In Akamaru´s place was now a clone of the dog´s owner! "Oh god, my nightmare´s come true!" he nearly screamed. "Human demon-dogs!" Upon screaming that, he got hit on the head by an annoyed Sakura.

"Thanks," the mute girl said.

"I still owed him one from our fight," the pink-haired girl stated, still upset about Torabu´s victory.

"Man Beast Clone!" the two Kiba´s said in unison.

Naruto then realized something. "Hey, wait a second! He just took something!" he complained. "No fair! That´s cheating! He should be disqualified!"

"Food pills… they´re just another tool," Hayate said.

"You´re no help at all!" Naruto shouted while pointing at the proctor.

"I don´t get it. What was that stuff he ate?" Shikamaru asked.

"Those are food pills," Choji answered. "It´s something the military developed. An energy booster that´s so powerful that troops who take it can fight for three days and nights without a break. But after extended battling, it can result in high levels of anxiety and almost total exhaustion. Right now, Kiba and Akamaru´s chakra has at least doubled in strength."

"Let´s finish this… on all fours!" the Kibas shouted and leapt at Naruto to attack, but the boy jumped away just in time. Both canine boys then began swiping at their opponent at high speeds, forcing Naruto to continually dodge.

"It´s bad news for Naruto," Asuma stated. "Kiba already fights like a wild beast. His chakra is intense enough, even without enhancements. The idea of these pills doubling his chakra, well… They´re the perfect weapon for Kiba."

As Naruto kept dodging, he eventually made the mistake of jumping into the air, therefore rendering all possibilities of dodging useless. "Now I got ya!" Kiba shouted and ran towards where his opponent would land, along with his clone. "Man-Beast Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang Over Fang!" And once that was said, both Kiba and his clone spun around at ferocious speeds and homed in on their target! To say the least, Naruto was thrown around like a ragdoll and ended off by falling hard into the ground, spewing up blood upon impact. "I told you I was gonna get serious!" Kiba said.

"I will…" Naruto wheezed as he tried to get back up. "I will be Hokage…! I will…!"

"And how´re you gonna do that, by lying flat on your face?" Kiba asked mockingly. "I got news for ya: _I´m_ gonna be Hokage!" He laughed. "C´mon, do you really believe a weakling like you could become Hokage? You must be weak in the head!"

_No… you´re wrong, Kiba,_ Hinata thought. _Weak – that´s one thing Naruto isn´t. Unlike me – unlike the rest of the world – Naruto always believed in himself. It was amazing to see how difficult everything was for him, but he never gave up. Always alone, no one watching him… no one helping him… No one cared what happened to him. No one respected him… no one even acknowledged him. But now… now everyone´s watching… Everyone´s acknowledging him._

Naruto managed to fully stand up, much to some of the spectators´ surprises. "Sorry, but… you can forget everything about becoming Hokage…" he said calmly, "…because I´m the top dog around here!"

"You´re kiddin´! You´re a real glutton for punishment, aren´t ya?" Kiba asked. Once seeing the confident smirk on Naruto´s lips, he said, "Okay, it´s your funeral. I´m gonna make sure you don´t get up again! Let´s go, Akamaru!"

As the two canine boys ran towards him, Naruto asked, "How many times are you gonna use that move?"

"Just once more!" Kiba answered.

The two boys reused their Fang Over Fang technique and spun around while homing in on Naruto, who tried to dodge by jumping high enough, but he got hit and sent to the floor again, while the two dog-like boys landed at each side of him. then Kiba threw more smoke bombs at Naruto and reused the technique he just used again, the orange-clad boy having even more trouble with avoiding them.

_The same trick as before – and it´s working, just like before, _Naruto thought. _It´s like fighting the dark! Gotta find a way out, or else…!_

The smoke disappeared, and the Kibas leaped away from their opponent, who was smirking confidently. "Ha! Looks like you´ve run out of gas, kid!" Kiba taunted.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked as he got into a battle stance. "Bring it on, dog-breath, ´cause no matter how many clones you make of yourself, I´ll still have enough gas to beat you!"

"You always got a snappy comeback! Let´s see a comeback from THIS! Ready, Akamaru?" The other Kiba snarled in response.

The two Kibas then used the same technique from before, using smoke bombs again. Naruto was in a real pickle. He had to attack, but the question is, which Kiba to attack? An idea then struck him and he used his ability to transform, causing his opponents to stop their attack.

"Very clever," Kakashi said.

Once the smoke cleared, there now was _three_ Kibas in the arena! All three of them looked at each other, confused by this turn of events. "Interesting," Konran said. "By transforming into Kiba, none of them knows which one to attack."

"Okay…" the real Kiba said. "So you´ve gotten a little better at your Transformation Jutsu. But you´ve forgotten one little thing – I admit, you look just like me, and that threw me off for a minute…" He smirked. "…but I still know which one is you." He looked at one of the other Kibas. "Wanna know why? I can smell ya, kid." And here he punched the Kiba he thought was Naruto, sending him a few feet away and onto his back. "There´s just no getting past our sense of smell. Tough luck."

_By concentrating his chakra in his nose, Kiba can make a sense of smell a thousand times more sensitive than the average, _Kurenai thought with a smile. _It´s easy for him to distinguish people by their scent._

"Game´s over!" Kiba said as the downed Kiba transformed… into Akamaru! _No way! That´s impossible!_ He then looked at the other Kiba behind him. "So it´s YOU who´s messing with me!" he growled and punched the other clone, sending him onto his back and knocking him out. The Kiba clone transformed back-

-into Akamaru again! The first Akamaru then transformed into Naruto, who ran up to the confused Kiba and kicked him in the face, sending him flying! He landed next to his dog and became enraged by how easily fooled he was.

_Way to use your head, Naruto!_ Sakura thought. _When Kiba sniffed him out, he transformed again in order to confuse him and make him forget about his senses!_

"A smart ninja is careful with how he uses his Jutsu!" Naruto said confidently. "Otherwise, it´s liable to come back and bite him on his butt, dummy!"

_Hey, that´s my line! _Kakashi thought.

Kiba would have given in to his rage, but he did his absolute best to keep calm. He stood up and took out several shuriken. _All I gotta do is wait for an opening, slip up behind him, and take him down with my All-Fours Jutsu!_

"So, are you finally getting serious, Kiba?" Naruto asked tauntingly. "Good, that means it´s time to unveil something special I´ve been saving!" And here he made a hand-seal. "My super secret killer move!"

Kiba, however, was not intimidated. "Ha! 'Super secret killer move'? Get outta here! It´s a bluff!"

"Yeah? Well, try me and find out!"

Kiba ran towards his opponent and threw his shuriken, which Naruto had not seen coming. While Naruto was into the air in order to avoid the projectiles, the dog-like boy ran to a position behind his opponent. When he landed, Naruto was met by several strong punches that sent him skidding across the floor. Despite not having his partner with him, Kiba´s speed still gave him an advantage over his opponent.

Naruto got a solid footing and made another hand-seal. "I will be Hokage!" he swore. "I won´t lose to you or anyone here!"

"Dream on, kid!" Kiba retaliated. "How can you beat me if you can´t keep up with me?"

Kiba then ran towards Naruto, but he only managed to cut his shoulder. He then turned around and kicked his opponent, sending him facing downwards on the floor.

"Ha!" Kiba panted. "You wanted me to get serious, so I got serious! You get it now? You were just kiddin´ yourself! You never even had a chance!" He was then surprised to see Naruto struggling, and succeeding, in getting up.

"I absolutely… will not… lose!" Naruto panted. "Guess that means you´re outta luck!"

"Come on, I don´t care who it is, I just want someone to win this match, already," Kankuro complained.

_This guy´s gotta have a weak spot; I just need to find it!_ Naruto thought. "Hey, what´re you waiting for? You tired?" he asked.

"You´re a scrappy little squirt, I´ll give you that!" Kiba growled. _He´s on his last legs… this next one oughta do it!_

"That´s enough of this – it´s time to unveil my secret technique!" And here Naruto made a hand-seal again.

Kiba dashed at his opponent, got behind him, and then up close with his head down at Naruto´s waist.

And that was when it happened. Something that absolutely ruined the seriousness on the fight: Naruto _farted_ right in Kiba´s face. The sudden bad smell, plus his enhanced sense of smell, caused Kiba to reel back with a burning nose, much to the spectators´ dumbfounded shock.

_Who said Naruto´s run out of gas?_ Kakashi mentally joked.

"I wish I could say I planned it, but now it´s time to use my new technique!" Naruto said, being the fastest one to recover from the off-putting fart. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" And with that, he made four copies of himself, who then surrounded Kiba. "You kicked me around pretty good so far, but now it´s payback time!"

One of the clones punched Kiba off of his feet; another used the first clone as a stepping stool to jump into the air. The three other clones then all kicked Kiba up into the air at the same time, and then the airborne clone kicked the dog-like boy in the face, sending him crashing into the floor and knocking him out, thus ending the match with Naruto´s newly dubbed 'Naruto Uzumaki Barrage'.

_A 'new' technique? _Kakashi questioned. _I´d say he picked that up from Sasuke. At least he changed the name… sort of._

The four other Narutos disappeared as Hayate checked up on Kiba. "The winner is Naruto Uzumaki," he announced.

"That was nothing!" Naruto bragged as he ran up on the alcove again. "Piece of cake!"

Hinata, completely decided to give Naruto what she tried to give him before the second exam, said, "N-Naruto…"

She was fortunate to capture the orange-clad boy´s attention. "You say something, Hinata?" he asked.

"I… thought… maybe…" Hinata swallowed her courage and presented Naruto with the same cup from before.

_Hinata…! Well, well…_ Kurenai thought in praise, surprised to see the blue-haired girl show a little courage.

"Uh, what´s this?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"It´s a healing ointment," Kurenai explained.

"For me? What for?" Naruto asked, confused by Hinata´s blushing face.

"Take it, Naruto," Kurenai encouraged.

The boy nodded and took the cup. "Thank you, Hinata. That´s, uh, real nice of you."

Kurenai then looked on as the hospital ninjas came to pick up Kiba. _You have nothing to be ashamed of, Kiba,_ she thought. _Who could´ve imagined he would be such a strong opponent?_

Unbeknownst to her, Neji was looking intently at Hinata. _Silly Hinata… not a care in the world,_ he thought.

Neji has been looking at Hinata during these last few rounds, but why? Could there possibly be some bad blood between them? And most importantly, who of the final six competitors will be put up against each other?

* * *

><p>Mizuki: I kinda liked the thing you wrote about bad blood. Especially considering-<p>

dopliss: (hits Mizuki with a chair) No spoilers!


	33. Chapter 33 Preliminary matches, part 6

**dopliss: Three more rounds left of the preliminaries, guys!**

**Mizuki: And then the filler commences…**

**dopliss: Don´t think it´ll **_**all**_** be pointless.**

**Disclaimer: For the thirty-third time, I don´t own Naruto!**

* * *

><p>As Naruto lubricated his wounds in the ointment he had been given by Hinata, he was surprised to see that the wounds healed the moment they made contact with it. "Whoa, this stuff Hinata gave me works fast!" he said in amazement, still not knowing that it was because of the Kyubi inside of him that he healed so fast. "Here! Wanna try it, Sakura?" he offered.<p>

_Only your wounds can heal that quickly, Naruto, _Kakashi thought, aware of the nine-tailed fox´s powers.

Before the hospital ninjas managed to transport Kiba to the hospital – and Akamaru to the vet – Hinata managed to walk up to her defeated teammate. "Uh… K-Kiba…" she said quietly. The canine boy woke up and looked at her, a frown of disappointment over himself on his face. "H-Here´s some… healing ointment… It´s for you and Akamaru…"

Kiba simply smirked at her. "Ha. Forget about us, you should be worrying about yourself, Hinata," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Only six left. Just you and Choji, Neji, Lee and then there´re those two guys from the sand and sound villages." His expression turned serious. "Listen to me – be smart. If they put you in with that guy from the sand village, you´ve _got_ to forfeit the match – same with Neji. Be smart and just walk away. Trust me, they´ll be merciless. They´ll destroy you."

As Kiba and his dog were transported out, the panel began choosing the next two competitors – and it seemed that the canine boy had unwillingly tempted fate. The two names were as follows:

_**Neji Hyuga vs. Hinata Hyuga.**_

_Hmm… this should be an interesting match, indeed, _the Hokage thought.

Even though Hinata was shocked at the outcome, she stepped into the arena and faced Neji off. "I never thought that you and I would face each other, Hinata," the latter said.

"Nor I, Brother," the shy girl said.

"What did she call him?" Sakura gasped.

"'Brother'?" Naruto repeated incredulously. "Those two are brother and sister?"

"They´re both descended from the Hyuga clan, one of the most ancient and honorable families of Konoha," Kakashi explained, "not actually brother and sister."

"They are related somehow, right?" Konran asked.

"Yes, in the way a branch of a great tree is related to its trunk. Technically, they´re more like cousins."

"The trunk of a tree?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, Hinata belongs to the main family household, directly descended from the head of the clan," Rock Lee explained, "while Neji´s family is just a side branch in the clan."

"Still, they´re family, and now they have to fight each other," Sakura stated. "I feel for them. It must be hard."

"Yes – but…"

"But what?" Sairento asked.

"It may not be as hard as it seems. I have heard that, for many generations now, there has been some bad blood between the two families."

"And why is that?" Naruto asked, curious.

"I have never known the specifics, but…" He looked directly at Naruto. "You know about the bloodline traits in the great ninja clans like the Uchiha and the Hyuga? Special techniques and abilities unique to those families? The first generation of the Hyuga clan made all sorts of rules and decrees that favored the main branch of the family. It seems some branches in the family broke these rules." The other genin looked questioningly at him. "Anyway, it is said that because of _that_, there has been some friction between the branches of the clan."

"So, it´s like this match is a family feud," Sakura muttered.

"Look, they´re about to start," Kakashi said, averting their attentions onto the arena and the two combatants.

Torabu, meanwhile, snored quietly, still unconscious.

"Alright, you may begin when ready," Hayate said and exited the arena once again.

"Before we do this, a word of advice…" Neji said to his cousin. "Hinata, listen to me – withdraw now! You know you were never meant to be a ninja." The girl was shocked at that statement. "You´re too gentle and kind… You seek harmony, and avoid conflict. You allow yourself to be easily swayed by others." She looked at the ground. "Admit it, you have no confidence. You feel inferior to everyone else here. It would´ve been better for you to simply remain a genin – but to register to the Chunin Exams, you need a group of three people. You never even wanted to take part in these exams, but Shino and Kiba did, and you couldn´t bear to let your teammates down, could you?"

"No…!" Hinata objected "You´re wrong… you´re wrong… I wanted… I had to find out… I did it because I wanted to see if I could change."

Kurenai felt a lot of sympathy for her student. _Hinata…_ she thought as she remembered.

* * *

><p><em>Kurenai was in a house belonging to the Hyuga clan. With her in the room was a man dressed in a kimono, and a young girl who was panting on the floor, holding a kunai in her right hand. "Stand up, Hanabi," the man ordered.<em>

_While the girl, Hanabi, struggled to stand up, Kurenai said, "Very well then, I will take Hinata under my wing. But are you sure that´s what you want?" The man looked at the female jonin with his white eyes. "She is your firstborn and heir to your household. The life of a genin can be dangerous and brief."_

"_Do what you will," the man said coldly, much to the shock of the woman. "She´s of less worth than her sister – five years her junior. The Hyuga clan has no use for such an heir." He looked back at his daughter, who had managed to stand. "If you have nothing more to say, we have work to do. Leave us now."_

_Kurenai nodded and left, but just as she exited the roon, she saw Hinata lean against the door, having heard all that her father said._

* * *

><p><em>Hinata has struggled to become what she wanted to be,<em> the female jonin thought.

Neji noticed that his cousin´s eyes were softening. "Hinata, you are the pampered offspring of the Hyuga´s main branch," he said coldly. "People can´t change, no matter how hard they try!" Hinata was shocked even more by that sentence. "They can´t run away from their true nature – a failure will always be a failure."

Naruto was starting to get angered by Neji´s insults to his family member. _Listen to this guy…_ he thought.

"People are judged by their true nature," Neji continued. "It is the way of the world. That is why we have the elite, and why there are outcasts. We can change our physical appearance and improve our skills with training and studying – but ultimately, we are judged by what we cannot change. What can´t be changed must be endured. We are who we are, Hinata, and we must live with it – just as I must live with the fact that you were born into the elite of our clan while I am from a lesser branch. I understand these things because I see the world clearly… with my Byakugan."

Hinata was getting even more unnerved by the words uttered, while Naruto was becoming angrier.

"Despite your brave words, what you´re really thinking is that you´d like to run… run as far away from here as you can."

"No! You´re wrong! You´re wrong about me!" Hinata exclaimed.

"'Byakugan'?" Sakura asked.

"It must be the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuga clan," Konran assumed.

"Correct," Kakashi affirmed. "It´s a visual Jutsu, like Sasuke´s Sharingan. In fact, they say the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan was derived from the Byakugan sometime long ago. But for sheer power and insight, the Byakugan is the stronger of the two."

Hinata was frightened beyond belief when she saw her cousin closed his eyes and make a hand-seal. And then he cried, "Byakugan!" and opened his eyes to reveal the bulging veins in them. With the extra sensory in his eyes, Neji could manage to see that his cousin looked up and to the left for but an instant, before looking back at the ground. "My eyes cannot be deceived," he said, gaining her attention. "Just one moment ago, in the slightest of movements, your gaze drifted toward the upper left corner of the room. I saw, at that moment, you were thinking of your past. Your bitter past. And then, almost immediately after, your gaze drifted to the lower right. It was a mere flicker of the eyes, but to me it revealed all of your mental and physical suffering. You´re seeing your old self and wondering if your life have prepared you for this moment. You´re picturing the outcome of the battle." His eyes narrowed. "You see yourself losing. And the way you´re holding your arms in front of your body like that, it tells me that you´re trying to build a wall between us… to keep me at bay."

Hinata was shaking with fear, while Naruto was shaking with rage.

"You want to keep me from raiding the deepest recesses of your mind. And why? Because everything I´ve said is true. Shall I go on?" He did not wait for a reply. "That familiar gesture of putting your finger to your lips… I know that´s a desperate attempt to suppress your rising panic, made all the more desperate because you know it´s futile. It´s all futile, Hinata. You are what you are. Whether you admit it or not, you already know!"

"THAT DOES IT!" Naruto shouted, being completely fed up with anger, gaining the Hyugas´ attentions. "Who gave you the right to tell her what she can or can´t be? Go on, Hinata! Show this guy that he´s wrong!" Hinata calmed down with the help of her crush´s words, while the ones surrounding Naruto were impressed. "Hinata! You just gonna stand there and take that? Do something! You´re driving me crazy!"

Hinata looked down at the ground again. _You´re right…_

_Annoying little pest, _Neji thought about Naruto, before he returned his gaze to his cousin. He then noticed that something was different from the last time he looked at her. She seemed more determined.

Hinata looked up at her family member. _You´re right, Naruto… Thank you, _she thought.

"If you don´t forfeit the match, you know what will happen," Neji warned.

_I won´t run away!_ Hinata thought as she closed her eyes and made a hand-seal. _Never again! No more running!_ "Byakugan!" she exclaimed, opening her eyes to reveal that she were using her own bloodline trait. She then took a fighting stance and said, "Defend yourself, my brother."

Neji took a similar stance and replied with, "Very well."

"Of course, it is the Hyuga style!" Lee realized upon seeing the stances. "That is why their poses are the same."

"The Hyuga style?" Sairento asked.

"It is the most effective type of Taijutsu found in our village." Lee began tensing. "I have said it before: I have on my team the man who is probably the strongest genin ever to come out of Konoha. THAT man… Neji Hyuga."

Both Hyugas then charged at each other and began exchanging blows. For each thrust their open fists made, chakra could be seen surrounding them. Both managed to block, counter and dodge the blows that each of them sent flying at each other. When Hinata found an opening, she went for it, but Neji was quick enough to dodge, even if it was just in time. Strangely enough, he still winced from her palm being near him.

"Did she get him?" Sakura asked.

"No way! She hardly touched him!" Naruto stated.

"Even so, a glancing blow is enough," Lee said. "That is what made the Hyuga clan the most formidable of fighters."

"What does?" Sairento asked. "What´re you talking about?"

"Their Taijutsu is a unique one," Guy explained. "It´s been passed down for generations. It´s not the kind of Taijutsu that Lee and I employ. We tend to concentrate on inflicting external damage; we use crushing blows to raise contusions and break limbs, pounding our enemy. The Hyuga way is to attack the opponent´s internal organs and their chakra network, through which the chakra flows. Their way is more… subtle. Perhaps not as fluent to watch, but it gradually takes effect with devastating results."

"You see, you can´t build up your internal organs, no matter how hard you train," Kakashi continued. "Even the toughest ninja is vulnerable to this kind of attack."

The two Hyugas carefully and slowly circled each other, and then they returned to exchanging blows. "Hinata! Way to go!" Naruto cheered.

"They attack the chakra network?" Sakura gasped. "These people are amazing!"

"Yeah, I agree with you, Sakura," Konran stated.

"What is the chakra network, anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Let me explain," Lee started. "You see, it is the complex system of circulatory canals that distribute chakra throughout the body, similar to a person´s vascular system. The veins and arteries, they carry blood."

"So, these veins carry chakra, not blood."

"Um, basically. Furthermore, the chakra network is so closely interwoven with all the most vital internal organs; they are virtually one and the same. Therefore, when the network is attacked, these organs suffer damage as well."

"Wow, Lee! How did you ever get to be so smart?"

"IDIOT!" Sakura growled loudly at her teammate. "How´d you ever get to be a genin?" She then knocked him on top of the head.

Guy noticed his protégé tensing his right arm. _It´s no wonder he´s all worked up, _he thought. _He´s watching his old competitor and rival… Neji._

"But, Sensei," Sakura said to Kakashi, "how do they know where to strike their opponent? I mean, the chakra network isn´t visible to the eye, right? So, how do they know exactly where to land all their blows?"

"You´re forgetting their Byakugan," the jonin replied. "There are few things invisible to _those_ eyes. What´s more: when they strike a blow, it´s a little different from a normal attack. A small but intense burst of their own chakra is released from their hand. It drills into the opponent´s body, directly attacking the chakra network."

Hinata found another opening, and this time she struck at Neji´s heart… and hit! Then, silence reigned for minutes as the two just stood there, as if frozen in time.

Then, Hinata coughed up blood from an impact made by Neji´s hand into her chest, attacking _her _heart directly! "So, that´s it, huh?" he asked mockingly. "That´s all there is to the main branch´s power?"

"Wait, what is going on?" asked Naruto in shock and confusion. "I mean, I saw Hinata hit Neji perfectly!"

_I´m not done yet!_ Hinata thought as she tried to strike at her cousin´s face with her left arm, but he caught with his left hand and used two fingers on his right to poke into her arm.

_So, now I see why he is called the most gifted one to emerge from the Hyuga clan,_ the Hokage thought with a small smile.

As Hinata panted hard, Neji pulled back her sleeve, revealing several red spots on her arm. "You mean… all this time, you…" she gasped.

"That´s right," Neji answered. "I could see your chakra points the whole time."

"What is he talking about?" Naruto asked.

"On the chakra network, there are 316 energy centers, or chakra points, and each are only about the size of the head of a pin," Kakashi explained. "Hitting one directly can affect the chakra flow – either holding it or increasing it, depending on how the attacker struck the chakra points. Theoretically, doing so allows a ninja to gain complete control over an opponent´s chakra flow. But these chakra points…" He narrowed his visible eye in thought. "…they´re undetectable, even to my Sharingan Eye. And even beyond the ability to see the chakra points, he can target them accurately during intense battle."

Neji used an openhanded punch to send his cousin flying and landing a few feet away from him. "Look, Hinata, I am completely out of your league, and that won´t change," he said to her. "This is what separates the elites from the failures. You may not like it, but it´s a fact. From the instant you said you won´t run anymore, your fate was sealed. You were destined for failure. And now you´re consumed with hopelessness." He took a few steps towards her. "Now, this is your last warning, Hinata: forfeit this match."

"I… I…" Hinata said while struggling to get up and coughing up blood. "I never… go back… on… my word…" She remembered Naruto´s words during his fight with Kiba. "Because that, too, is my ninja way…" she finished upon standing up straight and looking directly at her opponent. She looked up at where Naruto was and gave him a small smile.

"I had no idea that Hinata´s as tough as she is," Naruto said.

"She is a lot like you," Lee stated.

"You know, come to think of it, she is always watching you," Sakura said, surprising the orange-clad boy.

Hinata thought she was ready to fight again, but a strong ache from her heart caused her to double over in pain and cough up more blood. Kurenai knew what was going on. _She´s reached her limit, _she thought. _One more blow… and she´s done._

_Neji´s hits to Hinata´s chakra points have completely stopped her chakra flow, _Kakashi realized in thought. _That means, she can no longer send chakra into her opponent´s body and fight with the Gentle Fist style. This match is as good as over. I never imagined there would be someone this powerful here. I´m_ _afraid that, even as strong as Sasuke is, he´s no match for Neji._

_It looks like Neji´s gonna win the match, _Guy thought. _This girl just doesn´t have what it takes to bring him down._

Gaara was watching the match – just like the other matches – with a bored expression. Though, he was tensing, strangely enough.

"Whoa…" Ino marveled. "Do you think he´s really trying to kill her?"

"Doesn´t it seems like the difference in strength makes it unfair?" Sakura asked. "He is just way too strong. It is a mismatch… seriously."

"Anything is allowed in these fights, and each competitor is given an opponent at random," Sairento stated. "I don´t think it´s unfair at all."

Naruto was tensing up, holding tightly on to the cup with the ointment that Hinata gave him. "Go, Hinata!" he shouted. "You can do it!"

Once again encouraged by Naruto´s words, Hinata gathered up all the strength she could muster and engaged her cousin in combat again. _Naruto…_ she thought. _I´ve been watching you… I´ve been watching you closely for many years now… I like you a lot…_ Memories of her watching Naruto do the actions that characterized his rash nature surged through her mind. _I don´t know why, but… when I watch you, Naruto… when I watch you, I get full of courage. I feel that I can keep going… that I can succeed… that even _I_ am worth something._

She chose to strike again, but Neji avoided her attack and sent her into the air with a strong uppercut, and then she landed on her feet a few feet away from him, completely exhausted. As Hinata coughed in pain, Kurenai looked at her student with pity and amazement. _Hinata used to be a quitter, but I can see that she´s changed, _she thought and remembered how Hinata would keep training even after her team was done for the day. _She put every ounce of her being into her training; I saw it with my own eyes. But even so, she continued to fail all her missions. She lost her nerve when faced with real competition, became easily discouraged. But that´s not the Hinata I saw today. I have never seen such a look of… fierceness in her eyes._

Hinata charged at Neji again, still determined to win. _Naruto… until now, I have always done the watching… but now, finally… _you´re_ the one watching _me_ – and I´ll show you what I can do, Naruto!_

But her dreams were shattered. The moment she came close to Neji, he delivered the final blow to her heart, causing her to fall down onto the ground face-first. "You just don´t get it, do you?" he asked her. "Your strikes were ineffective from the start. You´re finished." He then cancelled his Byakugan and walked towards the stairs to the alcoves.

_Hinata… you´ve done enough, _Kurenai thought. _You lost the match, but… you´ve become a new person in the process. You did great._

Naruto simply frowned at the scene as he remembered something that Hinata had once said: "_I want to change myself into… something better._"

"It´s too bad, but after that blow to the heart… Hinata is done," Guy said depressingly.

Hayate stepped into the arena to make his judgment. "Since she is no longer able to continue this match-"

"NO!"

Everyone looked at Naruto, who made the outburst. "Don´t stop this match!" he shouted.

"Naruto!" Sakura complained. "What on Earth are you doing? Hinata´s had it! You can see she´s unconscious, can´t you?"

Everyone was then amazed when they saw Hinata struggle to stand up! After taking all of those blows, she still had the determination to fight. She managed to stand, but her stance was wobbly, she clutched her chest with her right arm, and she was panting hard.

"What do you think you´re doing?" Neji asked her. "If you continue to fight, you´re going to die."

_It doesn´t matter! I´m not going to let myself look bad!_ Hinata thought. _Not now! Not in front of the person I admire most, who´s finally seeing the real me!_

_Why is she doing this?_ Neji asked himself in thought.

"I´m far... from finished…!" Hinata wheezed as she struggled to take a few steps forward.

"Give up the tough-guy act," Neji scoffed. "I can tell you´re barely standing. You´ve been carrying a very heavy burden, having been born into the main branch of the Hyuga clan. And you´ve cursed and blamed yourself for being weak. But look, people can´t change the way they are, that´s just how it is. Just accept defeat, and you won´t have to suffer anymore!"

Hinata shook her head. "No… you´re wrong, Brother. You´ve got it backwards." Neji was surprised by that statement. "You see… I can tell… that you´re the one… you´re the one suffering worse than I."

"I´m what?" Neji asked, shocked.

"You´re the one… who´s all torn up… about the main and side branches of the Hyuga clan…"

Then, something that no one had seen coming happened: Neji got incredibly angry and ran towards Hinata. Before he managed to cause any serious harm on his cousin, Hayate, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Guy appeared and restrained all of his limbs. "Neji! Get a hold on yourself!" the latter of the jonin ordered. "You promised me you wouldn´t let this whole head family thing get you riled up!"

"Why are you and the other jonin butting in?" the white-eyed boy asked through clenched teeth. "The head family gets special treatment, huh?"

Just then, Hinata´s heart ached again, causing her to crouch down and cough violently. Kurenai and Naruto immediately rushed to her side. "Hinata, you okay?" the latter asked, worried for her safety.

The shy girl opened her eyes and looked at him. "Na… Naruto…" she wheezed. "I just… I… Do you…" _Do you think… I changed… maybe a little?_ And that was when she lost consciousness.

"Hey, you… loser," Neji called to Naruto, who looked back at him. "I have two pieces of advice for you. First of all, if you intend to call yourself a ninja, stop that stupid cheering of yours. It´s disgraceful. And second, once a failure, always a failure. You can´t change that."

"We´ll just see about that," Naruto growled. Letting his anger get the best of him, he ran towards Neji, only to be stopped by Lee. "Hey, what´re you doing?"

"Naruto, I get where you are coming from, believe me," the boy with bushy eyebrows said, "but the rules say, 'all fighting must be done officially in a match'. A loser beating a gifted genius through sheer willpower… Now, would not that make for an exciting match? Even if… _I _am the one who will fight Neji. Of course, if you ended up fighting him, that is fine too."

Naruto could not do a thing to fight that logic, but instead fought to calm down, and won. "Alright, fine, you win, Lee," he said and went back to Hinata.

_How was that, Guy-sensei?_ Lee asked in thought as he gave his teacher a 'thumbs-up' and a smile.

_Good one, Lee. Nice going!_ Guy thought and repeated Lee´s gesture.

Much to everyone´s shock and horror, Hinata coughed up a lot of blood. Kurenai opened the white-eyed girl´s jacket and placed a hand over her heart. "Oh no, she´s going into cardiac arrest!" she gasped. _Was he really trying to kill her?_ she asked in thought as she turned to look at Neji.

"I wouldn´t waste your time glaring at me," the male Hyuga said with a smirk, "when you should really be taking care of _her_."

"Get a medic, and hurry up!"

Three hospital ninjas quickly arrived to check on her. "She has no pulse!" one of them said.

"This is very serious! She got ten minutes, at best!" another said.

"Let´s get her to the emergency room now, and fast!" the third said. They then placed Hinata on a stretcher and ran off with her.

Naruto was staring at the leaving hospital folk in shock. Hinata fought well, bravely, and even gracefully… and yet, she lost. He crouched down and picked up some of Hinata´s blood on the floor. "Hinata… I give you my word," he said as he stood back up. He turned around and showed Neji the blood clenched in his hand. "I vow to win!"

While Hinata fought bravely, luck was not on her side today. Now that only Rock Lee, Dosu, Choji, and Gaara are left, who will be paired up against each other? And with Gaara´s brutal display in the Forest of Death, how will it go for his opponent?

* * *

><p>dopliss: You know, that scene with Hinata is actually one of the reasons I like her as a Naruto character.<p>

Mizuki: Who´s your number one character from the franchise?

dopliss: Certainly not you.


	34. Chapter 34 Preliminary matches, part 7

**dopliss: (looking at a sandwich in dissatisfaction) There must be something I can do to make my cravings for food satisfied…**

**Mizuki: (seeing the forming thought bubble above dopliss) Uh-oh.**

**dopliss: (grins maliciously) Yesssss… that might work.**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill: I don´t own jack.**

* * *

><p>As everyone returned to the alcoves, Torabu woke up with a headache. "Ow… That Sakura sure has one hell of a punch…" he groaned.<p>

"Oh… you´re awake?" Sairento asked her feline friend.

The troublemaking ninja stood up and walked over to his teammates, arms casually crossed. "So, did I miss anything?"

"Actually," Konran started, "you missed the end of Naruto´s and the one following. Naruto won his."

"Seriously?" Upon seeing his friend nod, the cat-boy turned around to face the orange-clad boy and said to him while waving, "Awesome job, Naruto!"

"You missed Hinata´s fight against Neji," the mute girl said, gaining her friend´s attention. Upon seeing his confused look, she said, "Neji´s Lee´s teammate."

"Oh… him…" Torabu realized. "Who won?"

"Despite her impressive performance, Hinata lost," Konran said.

"Impressive how?" he asked, curious.

"To the point of not giving up," Sairento answered.

As the arena got cleaned up from Hinata´s bloodstains, Shikamaru and Ino looked at their third teammate with concern. "Whoa, Choji, glad I´m not you," the former of the two said. "I mean, you still got the toughest ones left. I wouldn´t wanna face any of them. That creepy guy from the sound village… and Rock Lee´s gotta be tough if he took on Sasuke. And especially not that sand village guy – I don´t even like being in the same room with him."

Discouraged and scared, Choji bent his knees and whined, "I´m not feeling so good… Maybe I oughta go and forfeit right now…?"

"What?" Asuma asked, trying to cheer up his student. He then used a way of negotiation that he was sure would work on Choji. "Y´know, if you win, I´ll take you for a BBQ."

"WHA? Come on…!" Choji said, not convinced.

The teacher of Team 10 knelt down next to his big boned student and smiled. "Choji, c´mon, don´t worry," he said. "If it gets bad, we´ll step in and stop the fight, just like with Hinata, ´kay?"

While her sensei bribed Choji, Ino thought: _That´s a low blow, playing on his weak spot._

_When did _she _step in and stopped the fight, anyway? _Shikamaru thought, referring to Ino.

The man´s words did seem to convince Choji, though. With a symbolic flame in his eyes, he roared, "NOW YOU´RE TALKING! ALL YOU CAN EAT? BRING IT OOOOOOOOOON!"

Kankuro glanced to the side at his brother, who seemed to have a look in his eye… a very unnerving look. _Uh-oh, I´ve seen that look before!_

_I can sense his bloodlust! _Temari thought, also having noticed her little brother´s unnerving look.

_That last fight… I wonder… did it stir up his inner demon?_ Gaara´s teacher thought.

"I´m still curious about that Neji guy," Kankuro thought aloud. He then looked at Naruto, who stood by himself, and got an idea. "Yeah… that might work."

As the puppet master walked off, his sister asked, "Where´re you going?"

"Just doing a little recon. I´ll be back."

The cat-boy took notice of the sand villager´s walking… and he was moving towards Naruto. _This might look like trouble,_ he thought as he placed his hand on his kunai holster.

"Hey, you!" Kankuro said, gaining the orange-clad ninja´s attention. "How come you´re all by yourself? Why aren´t you hangin´ with your buddies?"

"Hmph! What´s it to you?" Naruto scoffed and looked away.

_Well, well… touchy…_ the puppet master sarcastically thought. "So, tell me something about this guy, Neji. I get the feeling we didn´t get to see the full extent of his powers in the last fight, did we? So, what´s his story?"

"I´m gonna pulverize him! THAT´s his story!" Naruto boasted, thrusting a fist into the air.

"Okay… but that´s not quite what I meant…" Kankuro said, unimpressed by the show of determination. _Man, this idiot´s out of his league._ He smiled mischievously. "You know, you seem like a nice guy. I like you."

Naruto calmed down and frowned at the sand villager. "Well, don´t take this the wrong way, but I don´t like you."

_This kid… is toast!_ Kankuro thought while glaring at the orange-clad boy.

Hayate coughed, getting everyone´s attention. "Now then, we will continue the competition," he said.

"Alright!" Guy said aloud. "This time you´ll be picked, I just know it!" He gave his protégé a 'thumbs-up'. "You ready, Lee?"

"No," the bushy-browed boy replied, turning away and closing his eyes. "I have been waiting so long, I do not care. I might as well go last."

_What´s up with Lee? Is he sulking? _Sakura asked in thought.

As the panel began choosing the next opponents, only half of the remaining competitors looked at the screen. While Lee was closing his eyes, completely careless whether it was his turn or not, Gaara made a hand-seal, dissolved into sand, and reemerged in the arena. _Oh, come on… Let´s do this,_ the redhead thought in annoyance.

"GYAAAAAARGH! SAFE AGAIN!"

Everyone looked at where the sudden outburst came from, and found the perpetrator to be Choji, apparently relieved over the fact that he was not going to fight this time. His outburst did not get any positive responses from his teammates, however. "Stop that!" Ino scolded, hitting her big boned teammate on the head.

"You want everyone to know you´re a chicken?" Shikamaru asked in annoyance, also hitting Choji on the head.

_**Gaara vs. Rock Lee**_

"It worked like a charm!" Lee said, kicking the air. "I knew that if I said I wanted to be last, I would be next! I simply applied the principle which states that sometimes the surest way to hit something is to stop trying to hit it! It is a form of reverse psychology!"

"Hurrah! That´s my student!" Guy boasted, praising Lee´s logic.

"I absolutely was _not_ going to be last, no matter what! I sure fooled them, did I not?"

While Lee threw out punches into the air in 'victory', Sakura looked at him with a dumbfounded look. _Fooled who?_ she asked in thought.

"I was right about the 'insane' remark," Sairento said.

"You were certainly not kidding," Konran affirmed.

"Still, makes him funny to watch," Torabu grinned.

"Listen carefully," Guy said, causing his pupil to stop attacking nothing. "A piece of advice before you begin." He looked at Gaara, his protégé following his gaze. "Look. You see that gourd that Gaara is wearing? Watch out… there´s something weird about it."

"Good advice, sir!" Lee whispered, whipping out a notebook from out of his pocket.

"Don´t write it down! What´re you thinking? After all, you´re not gonna have any time to read any notes during a match, are you?"

"Ah! More good advice!" Lee gasped as he wrote in his notebook.

_He _just_ figured that out about the gourd?_ Kakashi thought, dumbstruck by his so-called rival.

"Now… rock and roll!" Guy roared, his student roaring in determination and leaping into the arena.

Lee held out his right hand in a ready battle position. "I knew that sooner or later we´d have to meet," he said to his opponent, "and I´m glad that it´s sooner." Gaara glared at him unresponsively.

"I don´t know what kinda moves that guy with the dumb haircut has got, but he´ll never take Gaara down," Kankuro said confidently. "Not in this lifetime."

_He´s fast on his feet, alright, but his kick isn´t that great,_ Temari thought, smirking.

"Wrong," Naruto contradicted the puppet master, remembering Lee´s fight against Sasuke. "Lee´s stronger than you think. You have no idea."

Lee noticed something flying at him, and quickly caught it in his right hand, revealing it to be the gourd´s plug. "Why are you in such a hurry?" he asked, dropping the plug.

"Alright, then," Hayate said. "If you are both ready… Begin!" And then he left the arena.

Lee immediately started the fight by running towards his opponent and then used his Leaf Hurricane kick, but was blocked by a mass of sand that appeared from out of nowhere! The mass then tried to bury Lee like a tidal wave, but the boy leaped backwards to safety, the sand returning to Gaara´s gourd upon failure.

"Whoa! Did he just attack with sand?" Torabu asked, unable to believe his own eyes.

Shino was very on guard as he saw the display of the sand. _T-That´s…!_ he thought as he remembered Gaara´s brutal display in the forest. "That nightmare… Not again!"

_A sand-manipulating Jutsu, hmm?_ Lee thought. _It will not be easy getting through that… but nothing ventured, nothing gained!_

Lee ran towards his opponent again, and Gaara´s sand was ready. Each time Lee attacked, whether it was punching or kicking, high or low, it got blocked by the sand. The sand then became the offensive part and attacked its master´s opponent, who used a kunai to cut through it. The sand moved too quickly and forced him to dodge, which he managed to do successfully. Even though he was still forced to dodge, Lee attempted to throw two shuriken at Gaara´s backside, but the sand also blocked them.

"He´s using the sand as a shield!" Naruto gasped.

"_He_´s not doing it, the sand is protecting him on its own accord," Kankuro explained with a smirk. "It´s almost like a living thing. It´ll come to Gaara´s defense without his doing anything. That´s why Gaara has never been injured, no one can get at him. No one´s ever even been able to touch him."

"Well? Is that all?" Gaara asked his opponent coldly and in a bored tone. "I hope you haven´t finished entertaining me." He looked directly at Lee. "We haven´t had enough… blood."

The sand moved towards Lee again, and when he tried to leap over it, it caught his leg and threw him at a wall. When it tried to ram him, Lee dodged to the side, ran towards Gaara, and sent a punch towards him, but got blocked again by the sand.

"I don´t get it," Sakura thought aloud. "He is only using Taijutsu. Can´t he see that´s never going to work? Why doesn´t he get some distance and use Ninjutsu?"

"Yes, that might actually be a good idea," Guy said, "that is, if he had any."

"Say what?" Torabu asked, shocked about this revelation.

"Lee has… no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu skills at all."

"You´re kidding…" Sakura gasped.

"Oh, that´s nothing, you should´ve seen how hopeless he was when I first met him. No talent whatsoever."

Lee was on the defensive end once again, as he back-flipped in order to avoid the sand. He then slipped on some of it and fell onto his side, and the sand then used the opportunity to bury him! Everyone thought that Lee was done for, until they saw him in the air, having managed to dodge at the very last minute, and land on the statue in the arena.

"A ninja who can do neither Ninjutsu nor Genjutsu is certainly a rarity," Guy stated. "Lee has only his Taijutsu to rely on. Some might consider that a disadvantage… but that´s what makes him a winner." He focused on his protégé and gave him a 'thumbs-up'. "Alright, Lee, take them off!"

Lee was surprised by his teacher´s words. "But, Guy-sensei, you said that was only as a last resort when the lives of very important people were at stake," he stated.

"That´s right, I did! But this is an exception!"

Relieved over not being forced to break his sensei´s rules, Lee removed his legwarmers to reveal several weights wrapped around his legs. He removed them both and held them out to either side of him. "Ah! That was better!" he said, relieved. "Now I will be able to move freely!"

_C´mon, you really think you´ll get through Gaara´s defenses just by dropping a couple pounds of weight?_ Temari asked in thought, mocking the idea.

Her thoughts were proven wrong when Lee dropped the weights to the ground, and both of them made a crashing impact into the floor, much to everyone´s surprise! _Guy, you are too much…_ Kakashi thought in a deadpan tone.

"Alright, now go!" Guy ordered, and Lee was more than happy to comply.

Lee´s speed was increased by a truckload, as he was able to quickly move around Gaara and throw fast punches, all of them just barely blocked by the sand, much to the redhead´s shock! One of the punches even made it past the sand and almost hit Gaara.

"I can see that Lee had no altitude for Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, so he skipped them and focused all of his time and energy in developing his Taijutsu," Guy said. "That way, we turned his disadvantage into a blessing. Now he doesn´t need those other things to win, because he´s turned himself into the world´s greatest Taijutsu specialist!"

Lee had confused Gaara and the sand so that none could predict his next move – and that was used when the bushy-browed boy jumped into the air and delivered a downwards crescent-kick to the redhead´s skull!

_I don´t believe it! Gaara´s been hurt!_ Temari thought in shock.

"And I who thought he was quick before!" Konran gasped.

"Yes! Lee! Let the power of youth explode!" Guy shouted, admittedly, overdramatically.

Lee used his super speed to run circles around Gaara and his sand, and then caught him off guard and punched him across the left cheek, sending him onto his back!

Gaara then slowly stood up, groaning, while more sand ran out of his gourd. "Uh-oh!" Kankuro realized.

"Yeah, 'uh-oh' is right!" Naruto said, believing that Lee could now win the match. "Your friend with the eye makeup is getting the stuffing beaten outta him!"

"That isn´t what I was talking about, kid," the puppet master responded.

Lee then noticed something fall off of his opponent´s face. It started as small clumps, but then bigger pieces fell and turned into sand upon hitting the ground! Gaara looked up and directly at his opponent – and that was when a frightening view was seen. Gaara´s entire skin was covered by a sand-colored substance and on his face, which was dropping pieces of the substance, was a disturbing smile!

"W-What´s up with that guy?" Sairento asked in slight fear.

"It´s like a shell made of sand…" Kakashi muttered.

Torabu then noticed something. "Hey! T-There´s not a single scratch on him!" he said. "Shouldn´t he´d have taken a few bruises, at least?"

_He incased himself in sand, huh? Things must be bad…_ Kankuro thought in worry. _I haven´t seen that look on his face for a long time!_

_I knew it!_ Temari thought. _I sensed him getting more and more unstable as the Chunin Exams progressed!_

_As I thought… his inner demon HAS been awakened!_ Gaara´s sensei thought.

Some of the sand merged with Gaara, restoring his armor so that he looked completely emotionless once again. "I don´t get it. Is he made of sand or what?" Naruto asked. "All of those blows and kicks Lee hit him with; did any of them get through?"

"No," Kankuro answered. "It´s like he´s wearing a suit of armor. Ordinarily, those shifting clouds of sand surrounding him shields him, but in the event the shield is penetrated, Gaara can also wear the sand like armor, as a last line of defense."

"Does he have ANY weak spots?"

_If only you knew, kid. Actually, that armor is one big weak spot. Unlike the sand shield, the armor can be broken. And then, with the enormous amount of chakra that Gaara´s have to use to keep it in place… that takes its toll._

_That´s proof that Gaara´s feeling the pressure, _Temari thought. _He would never have resorted to it, otherwise. This Lee is good, no doubt about it, but that´s not the same as winning. It may not be as easy as we thought, but the outcome´s obvious. Gaara can´t lose._

"Well, is that all?" Gaara coolly asked his opponent.

_My speed isn´t enough to get past those sand defenses,_ Lee thought. _But maybe, if I can get him off the ground and away from the sand, then hit him hard from above… with the lotus!_ Upon seeing his sensei´s nod, Lee unwrapped his bandages slightly, preparing to use his forbidden technique. "Get ready!" he said.

Lee then ran in circles around his opponent at high speed, keeping the sand on high alert. "What are you waiting for?" Gaara impatiently asked.

"Okay, you asked for it!"

Lee managed to get behind the sand shield and kicked Gaara upwards, but the redhead was too heavy due to the gourd and was not sent airborne enough. Quickly reacting before the sand could save its master, Lee kept kicking his opponent upwards until her was at an acceptable height. Despite the strains of the technique´s cost beginning to take its toll on him, Lee wrapped his loose bandages around Gaara, grabbed a hold of him, and aimed both his and the redhead´s bodies so that they were upside-down.

"Take this! Primary Lotus!" Lee shouted as he spun himself and Gaara around rapidly and crashed into the floor, creating a crater!

Lee jumped and landed a bit away from the crater, panting hard. When the cloud of dust disappeared, it revealed a downed Gaara with several cracks in his armor.

Lee smiled triumphantly. "It is over…" he panted. "I win!"

"Is he… That guy isn´t dead, is he?" Shikamaru asked, shocked at the sight.

Hayate walked down to check on Gaara, but then several pieces of the redhead´s face fell _inside _of him, revealing nothing underneath the armor! "What?" Lee gasped as the empty armor turned into sand.

"How? When did he do it?" Guy asked in confusion.

"It was when Lee closed his eyes due to pain," Kakashi explained. "That was when he did it."

A big mount of sand emerged behind Lee, and when it rose up to human height, Gaara emerged from it, chuckling and smiling evilly. He then made a hand-seal, and then his sand hit his opponent with a strong blow that sent him onto his back. Unable to move well at all, Lee could only watch as his opponent created a sand tidal wave and used it to sling him against a wall! Gaara then licked his lips as he sent another powerful blow into his opponent, using his sand.

"Why doesn´t Lee dodge those attacks?" Sairento asked. "I mean, anyone with his speed should be able to."

"For a very special reason: he _can´t _dodge them," Guy explained.

"The lotus is, what you might call, a double-edged sword," Kakashi stated. "Why do you think it is a forbidden technique?" He did not wait for an answer. "The lotus isn´t Ninjutsu or Genjutsu; it´s Taijutsu, requiring extreme physical effort. The strain it puts on the body is unimaginable. Nobody can sustain it for long. Right now, Lee is in so much pain he can hardly move at all." He looked at his rival. "Isn´t that right, Guy?"

"But, that means…!" Sakura gasped.

Gaara retracted his sand, revealing a desperately defending Lee. When the sand attacked again, Lee did his best to avoid the blows by leaping away repeatedly. Gaara smirked maliciously as he made another hand-seal.

"Only armed with Taijutsu and weakened beyond belief…" Konran muttered.

"The odds for him winning are paper-thin," Torabu stated.

"Winning? He´d be lucky if he _survives_," Shikamaru said.

Guy looked sympathetically at Lee as he remembered the past.

* * *

><p><em>Alright, you guys, keep it moving!"<em>

_The voice came from a gym teacher back when Lee still was in school. "You wanna run 200 more laps?" he asked the students._

_Among those students that were running was a younger Rock Lee. "Dummy! Why bother? You´ll never become a ninja!" one of the children mocked the bushy-browed boy._

"_Will too!" Lee countered._

"_There´s no way a kid who can´t do Ninjutsu can become a ninja!" another child taunted._

"_Yes, I can!"_

"_Whatever! I don´t get why you´re even at this school when you can´t do a Ninjutsu or a Genjutsu, and you´re even worse than average at Taijutsu! It´s idiotic!"_

"_Hey! You know what everyone here is calling you, don´t you?" another of the boys asked Lee. "Dork Lee!"_

_Even though he covered his ears, Lee could still hear all of the children taunting him with that nickname, and he was so fed up that he ran away, despite the teacher´s protests._

_Hidden in a tree nearby, Kakashi and Guy looked at the scene. "So that´s the no-talent overachiever I´ve heard so much about," the latter chuckled._

"_Yeah, he kinda reminds me of someone," Kakashi stated, causing Guy to look at him with raised eyebrows. "…Especially around the eyebrows…"_

* * *

><p>Rock Lee… a dork with nothing going for him but a little lousy Taijutsu…<em> Guy thought with a smile.<em>

Gaara attacked Lee again, causing him to scream in pain. _But you kept at it, didn´t you?_ Guy asked in thought. _You kept practicing your little lousy Taijutsu._

* * *

><p><em>Lee was outside in a forest, training himself. "394… 395… 396… 397… 398… 399… 400…" Lee counted as he repeatedly kicked a tree. "If I can´t do five hundred kicks, then it´s two thousand squats!" he told himself.<em>

_Later, Lee was doing squats, meaning that he failed to reach his goal. "If I cannot do a thousand squats, then it´s seven thousand punches!" he told himself. "795… 796… 797… 798… 799…"_

_Later still, Lee was now doing punches. Guy, who had seen the boy train earlier and decided to come back later, was surprised to see him still there. "He´s still at it?" he silently asked._

"_If I cannot do… two thousand punches… then it´s two thousand jump ropes…!" he said, fatigue obviously getting to him._

* * *

><p><em>You focused everything on your Taijutsu… training relentlessly,<em> Guy thought. _Until…_

* * *

><p><em>It was the moment when Lee´s team was just formed and they were meeting their sensei. "As of today, you are all genin," Guy said. "So, now tell me, why have you done it? What´re your goals?"<em>

"_Oh! Me, me, Sensei! Me!" Tenten said, holding up a hand._

"_Yes, Tenten?" Guy asked._

"_I wanna be a great and powerful ninja, to be able to walk in the footsteps of the great and powerful Tsunade!"_

"_I see…" Guy nodded. "And you, Neji?"_

"_I´d rather not say," Neji said._

"_How about me, Sensei?" Lee proposed, raising a hand. "I want to show I can be as fun a ninja, as well! Even if I do not have Ninjutsu or Genjutsu! I want to prove it to the whole world!"_

There´s that look in his eye…_ Guy thought with a smile._

_At the sound of the Hyuga boy scoffing, Lee stood up, pointed an acusing finger at him, and asked, "What? What is so funny? You think I am joking? I mean it! I will be a splendid ninja just by using Taijutsu and nothing else!"_

* * *

><p>Lee kept running away from the attacking sand. "It´s painful to watch," Temari muttered. "Why doesn´t he give up?"<p>

"He should quit while he can," Kankuro stated. "It was just bad luck he got Gaara as an opponent."

Neji looked down at the arena with watchful eyes.

* * *

><p><em>The students of Guy were in a forest, the males sparring with each other, though Lee was on the receiving end of Neji´s combo. Even though he got punched to the ground, Lee still had enough determination to keep going.<em>

"_This is stupid," Tenten sighed in annoyance. "Why do you keep on doing this to yourself, Lee? Come on, you´re never gonna win against Neji, because he´s… well, he´s a genius."_

"_A genius, huh?" Lee asked, sitting up. "What does that mean, 'genius'? So I was not born with natural talent, not gifted like Neji, but I work hard and I never give up! That is _my_ gift! That is _my_ ninja way!"_

"_It doesn´t change a thing," Neji coolly said. "The sad fact is, you´ll never beat me. No matter how hard you work, no matter how many times you try…"_

"_That is not true, and you know it!" Lee snapped. "It is not true…"_

* * *

><p><em>True or not, you didn´t listen to them,<em> Guy thought. _You… you never gave up._

Lee was sent to the ground again by another sand attack. It was as if Gaara´s smile became more murderous when Lee stood up again. When he saw his opponent stand in a defensive stance, the redhead chuckled. "What good do you think that´ll do?" he asked, his sand preparing to attack, like a snake closing in on its prey.

"I pity the kid," Kankuro said. "Gaara´ll just toy with him till he begs for mercy."

"Well, then Gaara´s in for a long match, because that will never happen," Guy stated. "Lee doesn´t know how to give up." _Lee will struggle on long after the point where anyone else would have quit._

* * *

><p><em>Lee had failed another one of his self-given challenges, and this time he was crying over it. He had failed so many of his challenges to the point where it seemed that he was useless, after all. He was tired and exhausted, and could not muster up the strength to keep training.<em>

"_Lee!"_

_Lee turned around to face his sensei. "Taking a break already?" the man asked._

"_What is it, Guy-sensei?" Lee asked as he began kicking a tree, the punishment for failing his latest challenge. "If it is about my messing up on my last assignment, I said I was sorry."_

"_Lee, it´s true you´re different from Neji and the others," Guy said. "You have no gift for Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, and your Taijutsu needs work…" He smiled warmly. "…but then again, you have a gift that Neji doesn´t have. Not as flashy, but perhaps even more important."_

"_You do not have to make me feel better."_

"_You idiot, you think I would waste my time with that? No, all I´m saying is that you have the gift of perseverance, and that´s what makes you a genius, too!"_

_Lee stopped kicking, surprised by his teacher´s words. "But is that true, Sensei?" he asked. "I wonder…? I used to think so… I used to believe that if I just trained harder than Neji, two or three times harder, I would make myself strong enough… But now I am not so sure. I do not know if I would ever work hard enough to beat real talent… that is why I am always taking on Neji… I keep thinking all of my efforts will pay out, but it is always the same…" His voice began cracking. "I am no match for him at all…! Every time we have a ninja mission, my legs begin shaking…! I do not know if I can take it… Sometimes it seems like hoping is pointless… like I am a loser and I will always be a loser…!" Sobs could be heard from the boy. "I do not know what to do…"_

"_You´re right, all the effort is pointless… if you don´t believe in yourself," Guy said, surprising his student. "You know, Lee… we´re a lot alike, you and I."_

_Lee turned around. "You mean the eyebrows?"_

"_Um… no, Lee, I don´t mean our eyebrows. You see, I was a loser, too, once."_

"_What? Really? You were a loser?"_

"_Oh yes, indeed, but I made myself an equal to any ninja, even Kakashi… and I did it through effort," Guy said. "You say you wanna show the world you can be a splendid ninja, even if you don´t have the gifts all the others are blessed with. That´s your ninja way, right?" He gave a bright smile. "Well, I think that´s a fine goal. As fine a goal as I´ve ever heard. Don´t let anyone steer you off the path that you choose." He looked up at the darkening sky. "Stick to it, Lee! Make me proud! Be everything you can be!" He put a hand on the boy´s head. "Will you do that for me, Lee?"_

_Lee was moved to tears of joy by his sensei´s words. "Yes, sir!" he said through tears._

* * *

><p>Lee then smirked as he goaded Gaara into attacking him. The redhead was not needed to be told twice, but just as the sand neared him, the bushy-browed boy managed to avoid it with super speed!<p>

As Lee dodged the attacks from the sand, Sakura noticed that he was smiling. "He´s smiling!" she gasped. "He´s running for his life, but he´s still smiling!"

"Yes, so now it´s Gaara´s turn to run," Guy said. "The Konoha lotus blooms twice."

"Lee told me the same thing."

Kakashi then realized something horrible. "No… Guy, you didn´t…"

"Yes, Kakashi, I did," Guy smirked.

"So that genin, that boy, is able to open the Eight Inner Gates and use the Hidden Lotus?"

"…That´s correct…"

Kakashi was slightly angered. "Well… if that isn´t the most… Okay, so how many of the Inner Gates can he open now?"

"Five gates…"

"Mind tellin´ me what those gates are?" Torabu asked.

"And what is the Hidden Lotus?" Sakura asked.

"The Eight Gates are like valves… or chakra limiters, that must be opened if one is to… release the Hidden Lotus," Guy explained.

"I still don´t get it," the cat-boy said.

Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan Eye and looked at Lee. "There are gates along the chakra network, located at those points in the body where the chakra is most heavily concentrated," he explained. "Starting at the head, they are the Gate of Opening, of Rest, of Life, of Pain, of Closing, of Joy, of Shock, and the Gate of Death. These are what are called the Eight Inner Gates. Their purpose is to limit the flow of chakra through the body, but the lotus exerts tremendous pressure on these limiters, eventually forcing the gates open. This will release the restraints of the chakra, the result being that person´s strength can be increased tenfold… or more."

"The Primary Lotus opens only the first gate, the Gate of Opening," Guy continued, "releasing the brain´s restraints on the muscles, allowing that person to bring forth their body´s strength to its full extent. You´ve seen the results."

"And the… Hidden Lotus?" Sakura asked.

"At the second gate, the Gate of Rest, one´s strength is increased further, and at the third gate, the Gate of Life, one enters the Hidden Lotus."

"But if the Primary Lotus almost destroyed him, what will happen if he uses the Hidden Lotus?" Konran asked.

"Exactly," Kakashi said. "By opening all eight gates, he could attain power beyond even the Hokages. The only drawback is… you die." He looked at Guy. "I don´t know what this boy means to you, Guy, but I shouldn´t have to tell you that we never bring our personal into play. I wouldn´t have thought you were capable of this."

Guy glared seriously at his rival. "You have no right. You know nothing about him. Nothing at all!" he said. "That boy has something important to prove, and he´s determined to prove it, even at the cost of his life! And I am determined in helping him reach his goal. Not for his sake, but because that goal is worth reaching.

* * *

><p><em>Before the Chunin Exams, Guy and Lee were at a training field. "Alright, Lee, I´m gonna be teaching you a new technique, so pay attention," the former of the two said. At the boy´s hyperactive reaction to the message and how he would not listen at all, Guy punched his protégé hard. "LEE, I SAID PAY ATTENTION!"<em>

_Lee recovered from the punch and sat with his legs crossed. "Right, pay attention! Yes, sir!" he said in a military tone._

"_Let me first just say one thing: this technique is even more forbidden than the Primary Lotus. It is not without danger, but it will be your trump card. But listen, you can only use this technique on one condition – one very strict condition. And that is…"_

* * *

><p>Lee crossed his arms as a strong chakra burst around him. "I don´t know what you think you´re planning right now," Gaara said, making a hand-seal, "but this match is over for you."<p>

"You are right," Lee said, his features changing. "It IS over… one way or another!" Thinking of the rivals he met during the exams that he would like to fight against, he swore, "I am not going to be the only one to lose here! Guy-sensei… please let this work! It is now or never!"

Lee´s skin turned red, his hair was pointing straight upward, and an unearthly chakra burst around him! He then remembered the condition for using the Hidden Lotus: "To protect and maintain one's own ninja way!" _the third gate, the Gate of Life, opened!_

"WHOA! What´s happening to him?" Torabu asked in shock.

While Kakashi thought that Lee would attack now that he had opened the third gate, he was proven wrong when Lee charged for more chakra. _The fourth gate… Gate of Pain… OPEN!_

"Incredible!" Kakashi gasped. "No one can do that on sheer effort alone. This boy´s truly a genius."

Moving faster than a lightning bolt, Lee managed to get over to Gaara, tearing up the floor in the process, and kick him into the air in a matter of mere nanoseconds! The kick even managed to create a strong gust of wind, causing the spectators to shield their eyes!

"So… fast!" Sairento gasped, being the one who was most in awe at the sight.

As Gaara was slowly descending, his sand trying to reach him, pieces of his skin began crackling, revealing that he was using the sand armor. "Hiding behind that sand armor again, eh?" Lee asked from wherever he was moving. "Well, we will see about that!"

Lee then appeared in front of Gaara, and using super powered punches, he was able to juggle the redhead around in the air, keeping him from his sand and dealing heavy blows to the armor!

_My armor… can´t withstand this bounding! _Gaara thought. _It… is crumbling away!_

"You are a tough one!" Lee said, punching his opponent upwards, then leaping up to the roof and using it to dash at the redhead. "Try this!"

As Lee struggled to reel back his left fist, Kakashi noticed something. _His muscles are tearing themselves apart!_

Even Neji – who had to use his Byakugan in order to keep up – was impressed. _Is that really Lee? But when? How?_

"ONE MORE AND WE ARE FINISHED!" Lee shouted as he closed in on Gaara. _The fifth gate, the Gate of Closing, OPEN!_

_No human can move like this!_ Gaara thought in panic. _…Impossible to defend myself!_

Using a few of his remaining powers, Lee managed to glance to the side at Neji. _Are you watching, Neji? I was saving this ace in the hole to use it against you! See what you have to look forward to?_

Lee then disappeared and reappeared a second later, dealing a strong punch to his opponent´s stomach! Gaara then noticed wrappings around his waist, and it was bound to Lee´s left hand! Gaara was pulled towards Lee, and with a cry of, "HIDDEN LOTUS!" Lee punched the redhead´s abdomen, sending him crashing into the floor, creating a huge cloud of dust!

However, before Gaara had hit the floor, his gourd was turning into sand!

Lee landed on his back, completely exhausted by his efforts in the fight. "Is it over?" Sakura asked.

Once the dust cleared, everyone saw Gaara-

-all safe and sound! A huge mound of sand was underneath him, having saved him from the deadly attack. _Unbelievable!_ Guy thought. _He cushioned his fall by turning that gourd into sand!_

Gaara, however, was far from done with Lee. He outstretched his right hand towards Lee, and his bloodthirsty sand moved towards its master´s opponent. Lee did his best to crawl away, but all of his muscles were paralyzed. The sand then managed to catch Lee´s left arm and leg… and then…

"Sand Coffin!" Gaara hissed and closed his hand, crushing Lee´s captured limbs and making him scream out in pain! He then fell onto his back, motionless.

Everyone then noticed that more sand was on its way towards the unconscious Lee! "Now you die!" Gaara hissed-

-and then his sand was stopped by none other than Guy! Gaara stood up, completely shocked and confused by this event. Memories then flashed in his mind, giving him a headache. "But why?" he asked Guy. "He failed… Why save him?"

As memories of Lee´s determination flashed through his mind, Guy answered, "Because… he´s my student, and also because he is precious to me."

_That´s a sentiment that Gaara couldn´t even begin to understand, _the jonin of the Sand Siblings thought.

The sand around Gaara returned to fix his armor and reshape his gourd, as he walked towards the stairs, saying, "I quit."

"He quits?" Sakura repeated in confusion.

"But it´s too late for Lee," Kakashi said. "He lost the match the minute Guy intervened."

Hayate was about to declare Gaara the winner, before his and everyone else´s attention was drawn to something amazing: Lee was standing up, his left arm hanging limply at his side, his left leg shaking wildly, and his right hand held in front of him! _After all that, he shouldn´t be able to move, let alone stand up!_ Kakashi thought in awe.

Guy walked up to his protégé, held him by the shoulders, and said, "It´s alright, Lee. It´s all over now, and you´re in no condition to-" He then noticed something about Lee… something that made him incredibly sad. "Lee… oh, Lee…! What have I done…!" As Guy began crying, it was revealed that Lee was unconscious! "Look at you… Not even conscious… and still determined to show the world what you can do…"

"He´s out cold," Kakashi said, covering his Sharingan Eye, "nothing keeping him up but sheer willpower."

"Lee… you have already proven it…" Guy cried and softly hugged his student. "You are a splendid ninja…"

"The winner… is Gaara," Hayate declared.

"Incredible…" Konran muttered.

"Lee should´ve won… and instead this happens," the troublemaking ninja said depressingly.

Naruto climbed down from the alcove and ran towards Lee, glaring at Gaara´s leaving body all the while. _I can´t believe it!_ he thought. _Lee lost to _him_?_

He caught up to them just as the hospital ninjas checked Lee´s body. One of them then sadly looked at Guy and asked, "You´re his teacher, aren´t you?"

"I am," Guy answered. "What is it?"

The ninja stood up. "Would you come with me?" he said and walked a little away from the scene. Both Naruto and Torabu then heard what the two were talking about. "The boy´s breathing is steady; there are bone fractures and muscle tears throughout his body… He is facing a long and difficult rehabilitation, but I´m afraid that´s not the worst of it." He closed his eyes. "His left arm and leg in particular have suffered massive damage. I´m sorry, I know how much it means to you both… but he´ll never fight again. His days as a ninja are over."

"That´s… horrible…!" the cat-boy gasped, having heard it with his ears. "Poor Lee…"

Naruto looked at Lee´s body in shock as he remembered how honorable and friendly he was.

Guy was feeling incredible guilt, having trained Lee with tough measures. "It´s my fault… I should have stopped before…" he sobbed.

As Lee was carried out on a stretcher, Naruto shouted at the hospital ninjas, "Easy for you to say it´s over! What about Bushy Brow? What´s he supposed to do now?" He then talked directly to the unconscious boy. "Failure! I thought you said we could win! I thought you would show how a failure can…! It was all a lie, wasn´t it?"

Kakashi then appeared behind him and covered his mouth. "That´s enough, Naruto," he said.

Naruto removed his hand from his mouth and said, "But, Sensei, it isn´t fair! All he ever wanted… was to prove himself against Sasuke and Neji!"

"And maybe _that_ is what led to his downfall. He was so fixated on that goal that he sacrificed his body, his future, to attain it. Now that goal is unattainable. But you are wrong about one thing, Naruto: it wasn´t just Sasuke and Neji he was talking about. It was you, too. That´s right, he risked everything just so that he could meet you in combat. Remember that. Be worthy of his sacrifice."

Neji looked on as his teammate got carried out. _Lee… you didn´t understand… even at the end, fate will never smile on the fortunes of a ninja who seeks victory by falling on his own sword… or demanding that others fall on theirs._

Gaara teleported back up to his team´s location, completely deadpan. "Good to have you back, Gaara," his sister greeted him.

Kakashi then walked over to his rival. "Guy," he said, "what I said earlier… it was out of line. I was being a self-righteous fool… and I realize now that if I´ve been in your shoes, I probably couldn´t have stopped him either. Come, let´s go up. We can´t start the next match with us standing here."

"…Right…" Guy said as he, Kakashi and Naruto walked up to the alcoves again.

"Will the last two competitors please step forward?" Hayate asked as Choji and Dosu stepped into the arena.

"So, it´s finally my turn," Dosu chuckled.

_Just keep your eyes on the prize: all you can eat BBQ!_ Choji thought in order to psyche himself up.

_My mission is to survive the main tournament and battle Sasuke, isn´t that right, Lord Orochimaru?_ Dosu asked in thought. _I will not disappoint you. I begin to see through your design. The reason why you set us against Sasuke but forbid us from killing him: the curse you put on him. We were your pawns, weren´t we, my lord? Put here merely to test thelimits of his abilities? It´s not Sasuke´s life you want; it´s Sasuke himself. You played us all for fools, even me._

Now that only Choji and Dosu are left to fight, who will advance? Will Sasuke recover from the curse sealing, or will Orochimaru get him? And once the last match is over, what is going to happen then?

* * *

><p>dopliss: I used all night on this, so I hope you´re happy!<p>

Mizuki: I think they´re pleased with the chapter.

dopliss: Chapter? I was working on how to make my sandwich radioactive.

Mizuki: Um… why?

dopliss: Because I was trying to create a manwich!


	35. Chapter 35 One month to go

**dopliss: Aaaaand, this is where we finally introduce the mysterious character we´ve seen!**

**Mizuki: Who might it be?**

**dopliss: We´ll find out!**

**Disclaimer: (singing) BACHIKOI! BACHIKOI, BABY! I don´t own Naruto! If you agree, go "YEAH-YEAH!"**

* * *

><p>As the last two combatants of the preliminaries faced off, Ino aided her big boned teammate with cheering. "You can do it, fatso!" she shouted.<p>

As with earlier, Choji became enraged by the insult to his appearance. "Okay!" he growled. "I´m gonna finish this match! It´s only gonna take about two seconds – and then I´m coming after you, Ino!"

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Konran asked the skinny girl.

"…Probably not…" Ino replied, a small sweat-drop on the back of her head.

"Fine, fatso," Dosu calmly said to his opponent. "If you want this match to end quickly, I´ll just win it quickly."

Getting insulted twice by the same word ignited the metaphorical flames of rage in Choji´s eyes. "You´re gonna go down HARD, you mummified weirdo!" he swore. _I know his techniques all too well from our last battle with him. Those holes in his arm make a pulsing sound. But if I can´t hear it, then he can´t hurt me!_

"I´m curious as to what kind of techniques Choji might use…" Konran thought aloud.

The big boned boy made a hand-seal, and with the words, "Ninja Art: Expansion Jutsu!" his torso bloated up into a spherical form.

Konran was dumbstruck by that technique. "I… should not have wondered…" he muttered with a huge sweat-drop on the back of his head.

"Now, the Konoha style Taijutsu!" Choji said and retracted his limbs and head into his body. Due to the powerful steam-like chakra that burst out of the holes where the limbs retracted, his ears were completely blocked, deafening him. "Human Boulder!" he shouted as he rolled towards his opponent.

_Those sonic attacks Dosu´s using… they´re worthless against Choji´s strategy, _Torabu thought, showing interest in the fight.

The bandage-wearing sound ninja simply jumped a small distance out of his opponent´s reach, causing him to turn around. After a few more jumps, Dosu managed to get Choji to crash into a wall and get stuck. "He barely as any control over where he´s going!" he mused aloud. "Now to end this!"

With that said, Dosu punched the big boned boy, sticking his fist into the big mass of lard. "It´s no use, my ears are covered!" Choji taunted.

"You are _so_ wrong."

With a flick on his mechanical devise, Dosu somehow managed damage his opponent to the point of making him scream out in pain and knocking him out. "See, the human body is 70% water, and water can transmit sound waves," the sound ninja explained. "In other words, when it comes to my attacks, your whole body is technically one big ear."

"The winner is… Dosu Kinuta," Hayate announced.

As Dosu walked back up to the alcove, waiting for what would happen next, he had a thought in his head. _Lord Orochimaru – or rather, Orochimaru – now do you see? I´m more than a puppet._

"Hey, are you alright?" one of the hospital ninjas asked Choji.

"…Meat… I wanna eat some meat…" the big boned boy dazedly replied.

"Even though he lost, the least we can do is take him out for some BBQ beef," Asuma stated.

"Not as long as a match as the last one, huh, Sai?" the cat-boy asked his female teammate.

The mute girl was still in awe by Lee´s super speed, her right hand shivering in amazement. _So… fast!_ was the thought that repeated over and over in her head.

"Um, hello! Earth to Sai!" Torabu said, waving a hand in front of his teammate´s face.

_At long last, we can begin the final rounds,_ the Hokage thought with a smile on his lips.

"And with that match, the third exam preliminaries… are now finished," Hayate declared.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the village, Iruka was busy teaching his next students at the school. He took a short break mid-class and looked out of the window with a worried look on his face. <em>I wonder how Naruto and the others are doing.<em>

Among those students were Konohamaru and his two friends, Moegi and Udon. Noticing his teacher´s look being aimed at the window, the Third Hokage´s grandson whispered to Udon, who sat right next to him, "C´mon, let´s go sneak outside. Iruka-sensei is kinda distracted, so this is our big chance!"

"Going somewhere… Konohamaru?" Iruka asked, having heard the whispering. "You´re not planning on sneaking out again, are you?"

"Err… I need to use the bathroom!" Konohamaru replied with a lie.

"Lier!"

* * *

><p>Back at the tower, all of the genin who won their battles in the preliminaries – sans Sasuke – were gathered into the arena, along with the Hokage, Anko, Ibiki and Hayate. "I commend all those who have advanced to the finals for the third level of the Chunin Exams," Hayate congratulated. "Well, there´s one person missing, but still, congratulations."<p>

Up on the alcove, Sakura said to Kakashi, "Sensei, I have a question to ask."

"About Sasuke?" the jonin assumed. "I´m sorry – I don´t know much about that, I´m afraid. But, I wouldn´t worry too much." He looked away from her. _From here on, it´s up to you, Sasuke._ He looked back at his student. "Sakura… I have to leave, so I´m counting on you to get the details about the finals." Before the pink-haired girl had the time to protest, Kakashi was gone in a flash.

_Here, including the absent Sasuke, we have eight ninjas from Konoha, three from the sand village, and one from the sound village,_ the Hokage thought. He smirked as he said, "And now, I will begin the explanations of the final rounds."

_Well, it´s about time,_ Naruto thought.

* * *

><p>Somewhere else in Konoha, Kabuto kneeled before his disguised lord, Orochimaru. "The preliminaries are done," he said. "They´re moving on to the final rounds."<p>

"When all these countries are busy expanding their military might, the birds are still singing," the snake-man said. "I believe that this country of ours has been in peace for far, far too long."

Kabuto stood up and smiled evilly. "Then let me do it."

"I don´t know." Orochimaru looked playfully to the side. "How much fun would it be to take out an old man like the Hokage, anyway?"

"So, _that_´s how it is?" Kabuto figured, causing his boss to glare surprised at him. He noticed this and asked, "What´s the problem? You´re not still having second thoughts about it, are you, Orochimaru?" He closed his eyes. "From now on, each of the hidden villages will clash with each other… in a long and violent struggle. Even the sound village won´t escape that violence." He glanced at the snake-man through the corner of his left eye. "And it´s your intention to be the trigger for all that hostility… by using Sasuke as a bullet. Isn´t that correct?"

Orochimaru chuckled. "You guess very well. So well that it´s a bit creepy, in fact."

"You give me too much credit," Kabuto smiled. "I still didn´t know about your plans involving Dosu, Zaku and Kin. While gathering information on Sasuke, I wanted to learn the skills of those three sound ninjas, so I clumsily confronted them and let them attack me. I learned a lot." He looked away. "It seems that… you don´t quite trust me, Orochimaru – at least not yet."

The snake-man smirked. "Was it necessary to tell you, my right-hand man, about those three ninjas? My silence is proof of my trust. I trusted in you to act without that knowledge." Kabuto looked at him. "For that very reason…" His smirk became more evil. "…I´m planning to leave Sasuke in your capable hands. The curse mark that was given to him appears to have been sealed by Kakashi – but in any event, that is not my concern. While there is still some darkness left in his heart, we must act. And that´s why I want you to abduct him."

Kabuto looked back at his lord with a smirk. "It´s unusual for you to act so hastily, is it not?" he asked.

"Perhaps, but there is still a little something that´s troubling me," Orochimaru replied.

"Is it Naruto Uzumaki, Torabu Maka and Konran Reijingu?"

_You´re quite sharp, aren't you, Kabuto? _Orochimaru asked in thought. "Sasuke is driven by revenge – he´s burning to bring down his older brother, Itachi, for what he´d done to their family. He won't rest until he achieves that goal. And yet, when we fought each other, even though he knew he couldn´t prevail against me, he came at me without any fear of death. I didn´t think he would be the type of person who would be in such a hurry to die a meaningless death. According to your information, contact with that nine-tailed one has altered Sasuke´s heart and mind. So much so that Naruto now holds a certain influence over our Sasuke. The thing to do is to get Sasuke away from him immediately. Because then… it would be so easy to make him mine forever." He licked his lips.

"And what about the other two?" Kabuto asked.

"We will leave the cat-boy out for now… but I want to personally speak with Konran."

"Very well," Kabuto said and began leaving.

"Kabuto, wait," Orochimaru said, causing his subordinate to stop. "You know that you desire to stop me. I´m afraid your only chance is to kill Sasuke now." Kabuto was shocked by that statement. "You can´t possibly hope to kill me – even if you did have the courage, it´s worthless. You´re no stronger than Kakashi." After a moment of silence and nervous sweating from Kabuto, the snake-man smiled impishly and said, "I´m just kidding you. Well, you better run along now. Don´t forget, I´m trusting you, Kabuto."

* * *

><p>"In the final rounds, each of you will put your battle skills on display," the Hokage explained. "You´ll demonstrate the power and control that you´ve achieved in your respective disciplines. Accordingly, the final battles will commence one month from now."<p>

"Wait, we´re not gonna do it right here and now?" Naruto asked.

"This is to provide a suitable period of preparation."

"What do you mean by that?" Neji asked.

"Simply this: in addition to announce the conclusion of the preliminary matches to each country´s leaders, we must also have some time to prepare and distribute the summons for the final selection. Not to mention that you examinees are going to need time to prepare for something that is this important." The last sentence was to Ibiki, Hayate and Anko.

_This old man sure likes to beat around the bush,_ Kankuro thought. "Look, I don´t really get what you´re trying to say. What´s the point of this?" he asked.

"I mean that, to know your adversaries and prepare yourselves, you need time. Even though, up to this point, all the battles have been real battles – as I´m sure you can all attest – they were conducted on the premise that you were fighting an unknown enemy, but that´s no longer the case, now that you´ll battle each other."

_Yeah, seriously, I would never have dreamed that this guy can turn sand into a weapon,_ Shikamaru thought wile glancing at Gaara.

"So, in order to make the finals fair and just, we are giving you this month. Each of you must brace the opportunity to practice hard and learn some new tricks. Because, by now, everyone here knows your techniques, using your old, tired tricks is a sure way to lose in the finals. And remember to get some rest, as well."

Naruto glanced at Gaara and Neji and remembered about Sasuke. All three of them were going to be in the finals, and he was determined to beat them all. _This isn´t some vacation,_ he thought. _I won´t have any time to relax. I´ve got to train harder than ever!_

* * *

><p>At a room in a hospital in Konoha, Kabuto slowly approached the lone bed in the room, an unconscious Sasuke lying in it, and several dead ANBU men around the room. The young Uchiha was connected to a respirator, helping him breathe.<p>

"I suppose brilliance can sometimes have its disadvantages," Kabuto sighed as he stood at the bedside, talking to Sasuke. "We failed to avoid Orochimaru´s watchful eye… and it´s most unfortunate for both of us." As he looked at the unconscious boy, he thought, _He´s so young, but the seeds of evil have already taken root, just waiting to be exploited. He´ll be ripe for Orochimaru´s special Ninjutsu._

* * *

><p>Orochimaru still stood at the place where he and his subordinate have had their conversation. "Kabuto…" he mused aloud. "Most interesting… Perhaps Kabuto is really going to kill Sasuke, after all?"<p>

* * *

><p>Kabuto took out a scalpel and slowly moved it towards Sasuke, intending to cut off the respirator. He neared the cord-<p>

-and then threw it behind him at Kakashi, who suddenly appeared and caught the scalpel. "Well, well, Kakashi," Kabuto smiled. "Foiling my attack by striking from my blind spot, huh? But now, are you ready to take me on? Next time, you should station at least ten guards.

Kakashi looked at the dead bodyguards on the floor. _The ANBU black ops unit that I assembled was defeated so easily?_ "You… you´re not an ordinary genin, are you?" he asked, putting the scalpel away. "You caught a whiff of me, and immediately readied your weapon. Quite impressive."

"You overestimate me."

"So, what do you want with Sasuke? Finding you like this, I ought to bring you in for questioning." Kakashi took a few steps towards Kabuto.

"What, just you?" Kabuto chuckled and turned around to face the jonin. "I wonder if you could."

"Are you looking to take me on?" Kakashi stared at the genin, and then he realized it. "I know who you are. You´re the Konoha medical core chief's son. Your name… what was it? Kabuto Yakushi?" He narrowed his visible eye. "What are you – one of Orochimaru´s puppets?"

Kabuto smirked. "Even if you did take me into custody, you´d never be able to prove I have any connection to him," he said.

"Just answer my question."

"And if I say no?"

"I´m the one asking the questions," Kakashi said a little impatiently. "Now, give me some answers."

"Look, you´ll have your answer soon enough, even if I´m not here," Kabuto shrugged, "so why don´t we skip the middle man and let me go?"

"You smart-alecky little brat… I´ll teach you to mess around with grownups," the jonin said and took out a kunai.

"Come on, gimme a break," Kabuto scoffed and took out a strange hook weapon. "Don´t be so arrogant. The cards are clearly in my favor here." He moved his weapon so it was right at Sasuke´s neck.

Before Kabuto could move another muscle, Kakashi ran up to him, kicked the hook out of his hand, grabbed his left arm, and restrained him while pushing him down towards the floor. Just then, one of the corpses got up and ran for the door!

"I should have known…" Kakashi thought aloud.

Before the corpse managed to get out of the room, another Kakashi stood in the doorway, blocking the exit. The two Kakashis then walked towards the apparently confused corpse, kunai in hand. Another corpse then threw shuriken at a nearby window, slightly breaking it, and then jumped out of it. The real Kakashi looked out of the window and down at the falling corpse – and when it removed its mask, Kabuto´s face appeared underneath it!

"I can´t believe I let him escape," Kakashi grumbled as the first corpse fell to the ground, dead like it should be. The Kakashi-clone disappeared as the original checked Kabuto´s pulse. "Impressive. Just as I suspected… the Dead Soul Jutsu, where a ninja temporarily animates and controls a dead body, even transforming its face. Kabuto even stopped his own heart and eliminated all traces of his scent in order to escape by impersonating a murdered ANBU black ops ninja." He looked out of the broken window. "Being raised as the adopted son of the chief of the medical core is a powerful asset of his. If it turns out that someone as good as him is working for Orochimaru, I´ve got to work harder!"

* * *

><p>The Hokage had finished explaining, but he was still not done talking. "Now, with all of that behind us, I´d like to begin winding things up," he said. "But before we can bring this to an end, first there is one more important matter to take care of for the final rounds."<p>

"And that is?" Sairento asked, having calmed down.

"In a calm, orderly fashion, all of you are going to take one slip of paper from the box that Anko is holding."

Anko took out a small box from behind her back. "Everyone, just stay where you are," she said. "I´ll come to you." She then walked past each of the eleven genin present, each picking a small slip of paper with a number on it.

"Good, now everyone has one," Ibiki said. "Going from left to right, tell me the number that´s written on your slip of paper."

"I´ve got 9," Dosu said.

"Number 1, of course," Naruto said.

"7," Temari said.

"5," Kankuro said.

"10," Torabu said.

"3," Gaara said.

"11," Sairento said.

"8," Shikamaru said.

"2," Neji said.

"6," Konran said.

"12," Shino said.

"And that means Sasuke will be number 4," the Hokage stated as Ibiki wrote down the numbers given to the finalists. "Very good, now I´m going to tell you about how the final selection tournament is going to work."

"Wait… so we just got lottery numbers?" the cat-boy asked incredulously.

"Ibiki, you may reveal which ninjas have been paired up."

Ibiki showed his clipboard to the genin, and on it was a drawing of a tournament grid system where each winner of a round would move on to the next. The pairs for each battle were as follows:

_**Naruto vs. Neji**_

_**Gaara vs. Sasuke**_

_**Kankuro vs. Konran**_

_**Temari vs. Shikamaru**_

_**Dosu vs. Torabu**_

_**Sairento vs. Shino**_

_Sasuke Uchiha…_ Gaara thought in anticipation.

_I´ve got Neji Hyuga? Right off the bat?_ Naruto asked in thought as he glanced at the white-eyed boy. _This couldn´t be any better!_

The troublemaking ninja glared at the sound ninja. _So, it´s you and me in the first round, huh?_ He smirked. _Time for some payback from that time in the forest._

_Sasuke has to go up against HIM?_ Sakura thought in worry.

"May I ask you a question?" Shikamaru asked, raising his arm up.

"You may," the Hokage replied.

"Okay, if this is a tournament, does that mean there´s only going to be _one _winner? I mean, only one of us is able to become a chunin, then?"

"Actually, it´s quite the contrary," the Hokage said. "There are going to be several judges for the final rounds, including myself, the ninja leaders, and the Kazekage – the lords from the various countries that ultimately will be assigning your missions to you. During this tournament, these judges will be able to make a thorough evaluation of your abilities. They will then decide whether any or all of you posses the qualities required of a chunin. Even if someone loses the first round, they could still become a chunin."

"So, it is possible for all of us to become chunin, but it is decided upon by presentation of our abilities?" Konran assumed.

"Correct, but there is also a chance that none of you shall be chosen. The advantage of fighting more rounds in the tournament is in getting more chances to display your talents in front of the judges, who will decide your fate. Does that answer your questions?"

_This is just about the biggest pain ever,_ Shikamaru thought in annoyance.

"I thank you all for your patience," the Hokage said. "Now, let us adjourn until next month."

_Sasuke and that sand-using guy will be up against each other in the second round,_ Torabu thought. _This will be interesting._

* * *

><p>Later, Torabu and Naruto were walking along the streets together, having random conversations. "So, who´re you gonna get to help you train?" the former asked.<p>

"I´m planning to ask Kakashi-sensei about that," the orange-clad boy replied. "You?"

The cat-boy shrugged. "Planning to train myself." He then looked at the building where his apartment was located. "I wonder what Takai´s doing?"

"Wait… isn´t that the name of that woman we fought during our mission to the Land of Waves?"

"Yeah, and now she lives with me," Torabu sighed.

The two then exchanged glances and smirks, and then both ran towards the cat-boy´s apartment. While Naruto leapt to the rooftops and towards the alcove where the door was located, Torabu dashed up the side of the building, using his chakra control.

"I WIN!" both boys shouted when they touched the door at approximately the same time. Both then laughed as they entered the apartment.

Torabu then noticed something in the middle of the apartment that made him freeze: a litter box. "Oh shit…!" he gasped.

"What´s wrong?" Naruto asked, noticing his friend´s sudden fear.

"Naruto… be very careful," he advised in a very serious tone.

Something small then ascended upwards from behind the small table in the room and up into the air. "IMPUDENT BOOOOOY!" the figure yelled as it came down and slammed Torabu on top of his head with something long and hard, knocking him to the ground.

"What the hell?" Naruto asked in shock.

"Foolish brat! I leave you alone for three years, and you don´t improve at all! You´re a disgrace!"

The loud figure that attacked Torabu was a small cat that was standing on its hind-legs. It had calico fur, with its left side being brown, the middle being white, and the right side being grey. Its three most noticeable features were the small blue vest it wore, the three foot long stick in its paws, and that its tail split into two ends.

The cat-boy got up and furiously yelled, "What the hell are YOU doing here, you little-?"

He was smacked on the head with the stick again. "What kind of welcome is that?" the cat asked angrily. "And here I´ve walked to on my own two hind-paws, all the way from the south!"

"No one asked you to come here!"

"Your horrendous combat abilities did!"

"What do you know about my skills?"

"More than you, sonny!"

Breaking up the two´s loud fight, Naruto asked, "Can any of you tell me what´s going on here? For example…" He pointed at the cat. "…who is that?"

"Ah!" The cat stomped its stick into the floor two times. "Where are your manners, boy? Introduce me!"

Torabu crossed his arms and looked to the side. "Yes…" he growled. Once looking at the threatening look that the feline gave him, he quickly said, "Sensei."

"WHAT?" Naruto asked in shock. He then realized it. "That cat´s your old sensei?"

The cat smacked Naruto on top of his head with the stick. "_Cat_? How dare you call me a mere cat! I am a Bakeneko, a higher evolution of cats!"

"OW!" the orange-clad boy groaned. "What was that for?"

"You youngsters have no clue of what´s happening in the world these days! You spend too much time fooling around, wasting your lives on junk food and pranks and other such meaningless activities! Back in the days of old, we forced our young´uns to work their butts off for learning strong techniques and important information!"

"And in current days, the old gets ignored because of their ramblings and nagging attitude!" Torabu interrupted.

The cat glared at the troublemaking ninja. "You and Naruto are prime examples of how wrong the newer generations are becoming, you brat."

"Hey! How did you know my name?" Naruto asked.

The feline looked at the orange-clad boy. "I know because I know. And I also know about what is sealed inside of you."

Naruto gasped. "But… how?"

"I got my secrets. But since I know your name, you should know mine." The cat stomped its stick into the ground. "I am Fukigen – and by the way, I am a tom."

"Anyway, why are you here, Bakaneko?" Torabu asked. (*)

After having slammed his stick against the cat-boy´s head, Fukigen said, "You are lacking in learning new skills and techniques during these last years – and if you plan on fighting that Dosu guy, then you need a lot of improvement."

The troublemaking ninja glared at his former sensei while rubbing the sore bumps on his head. "How do you know-?"

"I JUST DO! And I must say, even though you´ve met many new people with many interesting and powerful techniques, the only one you learned useful ones from haven't trained you at all. And look where she is now!"

He pointed at the couch with one of his claws, and on it laid a sleeping and snoring Takai, an almost empty bottle of sake dangling in her right hand, which was almost touching the ground. "How come we didn´t notice her before?" Naruto asked.

The Bakeneko looked back at Torabu. "For this next month, you´re training with me!" he decided. "It´s back to basics with you, boy!"

"Over my dead bo-!" Torabu said, but was knocked out by a powerful stick-slam to the skull.

"I suggest you leave now, boy," Fukigen said to Naruto.

The orange-clad boy and the cat exited the apartment, the latter dragging the unconscious Torabu by his tail. Then the cat locked the door, and then walked off, dragging the troublemaking ninja with him._ That… was weird,_ was the only thing that Naruto could think of to describe the scene he had just witnessed.

What will happen now that Torabu´s former sensei had returned to train him for the finals? Who will train Naruto for the whole month? And most importantly, what plans does Orochimaru have with Sasuke and Konran?

* * *

><p>dopliss: And here we have him, folks! Torabu´s sensei has finally been revealed! So let´s give him a bio!<p>

_**Name: **__Fukigen._

_**Age: **__30 (that´s a lot for a cat)._

_**Author´s nickname: **__The feline sensei._

_**Gender: **__Male._

_**Race: **__Bakeneko._

_**Height: **__0.76 M._

_**Weight: **__5 kg._

_**Appearance: **__Calico fur (grey, white, brown); common feline eyes; twin-tail._

_**Clothing:**__ Blue vest; three feet long walking stick/weapon stick._

_**Abilities: **__Ninja skills; masterful agility; ability to walk on hind-legs; ability to talk; manipulation of the dead; can create ghostly fire; can digest poison._

_**Weakne- (SMACK!) OW!**_

_**Relatives: **__None known._

_**Bio: **__If a cat manages to either live longer than ten years, weights more than 3.75 kg., or get an extremely long tail, it becomes a Bakeneko, a demonic cat creature. And having done all three of them, Fugiken became one. His past is very unclear, since he is the only one who knows of it and refuses to share it. He is, however, Torabu´s former sensei, having taught him almost all that he knows. But will he teach him more this time?_

dopliss: And now begins the training chapters.

Mizuki: I´ll be leaving until they´re over.

dopliss: To where?

Mizuki: Hokkaido. I need to be around familiar ground.

(*) = For you non-Japanese speakers, 'Baka' means 'idiot', hence the insult.


	36. Chapter 36 The training starts

**dopliss: (thinking) Wow… I never thought I'd be alone during these chapters… I have to find **_**something **_**to do.**

**(a silence reigns as dopliss thinks)**

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto-san own Naruto – the anime, the manga and the videogames. (Well, maybe not the latter…)**

* * *

><p>Sairento stood on top of one of the rooftops in Konoha, thinking to herself while enjoying the scenery. Her left hand´s fingers were twitching every second. <em>I must train as hard as possible, <em>she thought. _When I think of the opposition, I get this sense of dread in me. From what I´ve seen so far, Neji, Gaara, Shino, Temari and Kankuro are the biggest treats to face. The first can attack internally and block chakra from coursing through the body; the second can use sand to do his bidding; the third can use an army of insects; the fourth has that powerful fan on her, and the last one can use a puppet. Not to mention Naruto, Sasuke and Torabu. I´ve seen what they´re capable of, and if the cat-boy goes crazy like that time in the Land of Waves…_

"What are you doing here?"

The mute girl did not look at where the voice came from, but simply answered, "I am considering my current situation, Konran."

Indeed it was her teammate. Konran walked up next to her and said, "If you feel like talking about it, you can tell me, old friend."

She turned her head to look at him. "So, you _do_ remember," she affirmed. "How come you didn´t say anything about that when our team first was formed?"

Konran shrugged and sat down. "It would seem unfair to the others if I told them."

"I see," Sairento said as she sat down beside him. "Are you worried about the finals?"

"I think that I will manage. You?"

"A little."

The two sat in silence, until Konran broke it by asking, "Hey, do you remember the day we first met?"

The girl nodded. "It´s been three years now."

* * *

><p><em>Years earlier, a young girl with a fox-mask sat underneath a tree, reading a book, and a pile of more next to her. Around her were several other children, all of them playing with each other.<em>

"_Hey, isn´t that the weird girl who always stay by herself?" a little girl asked her friend while pointing at the mask-wearing girl._

"_Yeah, that´s her," the friend replied. "I can´t believe she studies instead of playing."_

"_Yeah, you and me both," the girl replied. "I mean, does she even have any friends?"_

"_Who knows? It sure don´t seem like it, though."_

_The girl just kept reading her book, ignoring anything she could hear that was about her. She did not care about what was said about her, she did not care about not having friends. All that she cared about was to learn and get stronger._

I must make my parents proud,_ she thought. _Both of them were great ninjas in their youth, and so must I be. Anything lower than great is unacceptable.

"_Hey, what are you doing all alone?"_

_The girl looked up from her book and stared at a boy with electric-blue hair which was styled in an unusual way. "It is a great and sunny day, why are you not playing with your friends?" he asked._

"_I… just don´t want to," the girl replied, trying to get the boy to go away._

_The boy tilted his head in confusion. "You 'don´t want' to hang out with your friends? Really?" he asked._

"_Yes." She looked back into the book. "Now, if you´ll excuse me, I have to study."_

_The boy looked at the pile of books next to her and looked at the covers. "Hmm… interesting," he said. "You seem pretty eager to learn techniques and about chakra."_

_He reached down to touch the books, but the girl laid a hand on the pile while looking at the boy. "Don´t touch them," she said._

"_Calm down, I just want to give you a helpful advice."_

_She looked skeptically at him. "And how, pray tell, are you gonna do that?"_

_He took out several books out of the pile. "Most of these just have the same things written in them. You would do better with…" He left three books alone in the pile. "…just these three, plus the one you are currently reading."_

_Her skeptical look did not change. "How would you know?"_

"_I have read them all before."_

_The girl slightly gasped at that piece of information. "Really?" she asked. Upon getting a nod in response, she glanced away from him and said, "Well then, um… thank you, I guess."_

"_No problem," the boy said with a big smile. "After all, that is what friends do to each other."_

_She looked back up at him. "What did you say?" she incredulously asked._

"_I said that you just got a new friend," he chuckled. "I am Konran. What is your name?"_

_The girl was silent for a few seconds, but then she answered the boy´s question. "My name is Sairento."_

* * *

><p>"And since then, we´ve been sparring and studying together," Sairento mused. "It was quite fortunate that we were put on the same team."<p>

"Indeed," Konran agreed. "I was worried about what would happen if we were not on the same team. Maybe we would have become rivals?"

"Maybe." They both stood up. "Well, we should both begin our training for the finals."

"Yes, it would be stupid of us to be the only ones not to train," he chuckled. He then held out his right hand." Good luck."

She took his hand and shook it. "Likewise," she said.

They let go of each other, and then Konran leapt off to train. Sairento looked at her right hand, held it close to her heart, and then left the rooftop herself.

* * *

><p>"Hey, where is Sasuke´s room?" Naruto asked the receptionist at the village´s hospital.<p>

"Sorry – no visitors allowed," the receptionist said with a small smile.

"What? No visitors? Are you kidding me?"

"Those are the rules."

Naruto was, as usual, stubborn and wanted his will to be done. He tried to convince the receptionist by saying, "Ah, c´mon, lady-!"

"Naruto, this is a hospital – keep it down!"

The orange-clad boy looked at where the voice came from and saw his sensei standing near a hallway. He ran up to him and said, "Boy am I glad to see you! I gotta ask you a favor!"

"Stop right there," Kakashi interrupted. "I already know what you´re going to ask, so I´ve been looking for someone that can oversee your training for the final rounds."

Naruto was obviously disappointed. "Hold on, why can´t _you _train me, sensei?" he asked.

"I have other matters to handle," the jonin answered. "I don´t have time to deal with you, Naruto."

The boy growled in irritation, but then he came to a conclusion. "Hey! Aha! You´re going to train Sasuke, aren´t you, Kakashi-sensei?" he asked, pointing an accusing finger at his sensei.

"Now, now, don´t complain," Kakashi reassuringly said. "Listen, I´ve found you an even better teacher than me."

"Well, who is it?" Naruto calmly asked.

"It is I."

Naruto turned around upon hearing the new voice… and got shocked upon seeing that it was none other than Konohamaru´s sensei, Ebisu! "_**YOU? You closet pervert!**_" he shouted in a mixture of anger and shock.

"Such insolence…" Ebisu sighed as he readjusted his sunglasses.

"N-N-N-N-Not t-t-t-t-that g-g-g-g-guy!" Naruto stuttered, afraid that Ebisu might take his revenge.

"He´s a… what? What did you call him?" Kakashi asked.

"You´re kiddin´ me!" Naruto complained. "Of all you could´ve picked, you picked this guy to train me? "What a joke! He´s weaker than I am!"

"What makes you say that?"

Naruto looked at his sensei. "I´m serious, you should´ve seen him! He saw me and Torabu´s Harem-Jutsu once, and he fell to pieces!"

Ebisu winced upon hearing that sentence, clearly remembering the event. _Oh no! Not that again!_ Before Naruto could say anything else, Ebisu covered his mouth with his hand.

"'Harem-Jutsu'?" Kakashi asked in confusion.

"Oh, it´s nothing!" Ebisu quickly and nervously replied. "Just a little joke we shared! Ha-ha!" He then whispered to Naruto, "Look, I´ll make you a deal: keep quiet about that, and I´ll buy you anything you want to eat! BBQ, ramen – you name it!"

"Anything I want?" Naruto asked in a muffled voice.

"Well, well, I had no idea you two were acquainted," Kakashi said, missing the big picture.

Ebisu released Naruto and patted him on the head, the boy obviously displeased about that. "Yes, we go way back," the man nervously laughed. _I will always be hunted by that humiliation!_

"I still don´t get why it has to be _him_…" Naruto muttered. "I mean… anybody else…"

"Look, you little," Ebisu began, stopping patting him on the head, "hadn´t it been for Kakashi, who asked me for this favor, I would never consider training you!"

"Yeah? Well, then don´t!"

"Hey, hey, c´mon, you two," Kakashi said, trying to calm both of them down. He then kneeled down next to his student and said, "Listen, Naruto, you´re wrong about Ebisu-sensei. He is a special jonin. A private tutor who only trains the elite. Frankly, he is a better teacher than I am." He then stood up. "Anyway, Naruto, I´ve got to say that out of the three genin in Team 7, you´re the one whose basic skills needs the most work. That´s what I want you to focus on this time around."

"Wait, hold on a second!" Naruto interrupted. "Are you honestly saying that I´m not as good as Sasuke or Sakura?"

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, no matter how many skills you master, the fundamentals are… well, fundamental, and yours could be improved. So if you really want to become strong, then just be quiet and pay attention." He turned his back on the two. "Alright, Ebisu-sensei, I leave him in your capable hands." And then he left.

"I´ll do what I can!" Ebisu called after the other jonin.

Kakashi could easily notice that his student was growling in displeasure. _I know it seems hard, but trust me, it´s for your own good,_ he thought. _Just do your best._

"Well, c´mon," Ebisu said to Naruto. "Let´s get started.

Naruto was silent for a few seconds, and then he said, "Okay… but I don´t bite it," much to the man´s surprise. He then shouted, "This whole thing is totally nuts! Even if I DO need to work on my fundamentals, how the heck am I supposed to get better when I got a teacher who´s weaker than me?"

"I beg your pardon, but who do you think you´re calling 'weak'?" the man scoffed.

"WHO DO YOU THINK? WHO ELSE IS STANDING HERE?"

"If this is all because of that ridiculous and inappropriate Jutsu of yours, it took me by surprise, that´s all." Ebisu smirked. "I wouldn´t be too hasty to judge my abilities based on one incident a long time ago."

"Just ´cause you ended up flat on your back and knocked out cold," Naruto insulted.

"Alright then," Ebisu said in a challenging voice, "let´s put it to a test, shall we? Naruto… try to run away." He smirked wider. "I mean it. I want you to try running as fast as you can. If you can get away from me, I´ll resign as your trainer."

"Is that a promise," Naruto asked, unconvinced.

"Certainly. And what´s more: since I know how much you prefer Kakashi, I think I can arrange to take over enough of his other duties so that he can be your trainer."

"Oh yeah? Really?" Naruto asked, excited over the proposal.

"Of course, an elite jonin never goes back on his words. But it´s all contented of you being able to outrun me."

Naruto smirked. "Man, this is the easiest deal I´ve ever made!" He then ran off, leaving with the words, "So long, sucker!"

* * *

><p>Out in the forest surrounding Konoha, Torabu sat cross-legged in front of his old sensei, staring at him in annoyance. "So, if I can´t avoid having you to train me, what´re you planning to do?" he asked.<p>

Fukigen cleared his throat. "Well, first of all, you need to practice your current skills – the useful ones, that is," he said.

Torabu stood up. "Hey, all of my skills are useful!" he complained.

"No, not all of them," the cat countered. "Your best friend has taught you only two techniques, and one of them is the only one that´s useful."

The cat-boy growled. "Let´s see how useless you think THIS is!" he said and made a hand-seal. Smoke appeared, and when it was gone, five of the boy´s Sexy-Jutsu body stood there, all posing seductively.

The Bakeneko´s response, however, was to knock each of them on the head, until only one Torabu in his normal body was remaining. "What good can a technique that makes you into an attractive female do you?" he asked angrily.

The troublemaking ninja sat up while rubbing his sore bumps. "I use it to cause people to faint in shock."

"And it can be used against you if you´re fighting men."

Torabu needed a little time to think about those words, and then he realized it. "Oh god… You´re saying that I could´ve gotten…"

"…left with a cake in the oven, yes." The cat shook his head. "But if you really wanna learn something useful, then look at this."

The feline sensei then made hand-seals (or is it paw-seals?), and then a massive ice ball appeared between his paws, much similar like when Torabu fought Takai! He then fired it at a tree, and it got frozen immediately upon contact.

"Holy crap! How did you do that?" Torabu asked in awe.

_As I thought, he don´t remember when he´s freaking out, _the cat thought. "I should warn you, though: if you plan on learning that Jutsu, then you must remember only to use it against someone you desire to kill, and no one else!"

The cat-boy nodded. "Okay, got it!"

Fukigen looked at his student, his twin-tail lashing randomly around. "Now, let´s begin your training," he said.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Ebisu sat at Ichiraku Ramen. No matter what the boy had done in order to escape, the man had found him again and again. At this point, Naruto had given up and was in the middle of eating.<p>

"Now, Naruto," Ebisu began, "having had a chance to observe your technique firsthand, and from what Kakashi has told me, it´s clear to me that one of your weakest points is chakra control."

"Chakra control?" Naruto asked with a mouthful of noodles.

"Exactly. When we compare your abilities to those of your teammates, Sakura and Sasuke, your deficiency becomes obvious. As you may know, in order to successfully perform Ninjutsu, Genjutsu or Taijutsu, a ninja must first build up his chakra."

"Yeah, I know that."

"I would hope so," Ebisu said. "Well then, let´s compare you to your teammates in this department, and perhaps you´ll begin to see just how inferior your abilities really are."

"You got an annoying way of putting things," Naruto muttered.

"As agreed, I´m buying you lunch, so just be quiet and listen. First, let´s talk about how Sakura prepares her Jutsu. She´s perfect at building up her chakra to its full extent, and because she is so efficient, she can make five clones without wasting any excess energy. As for Sasuke, it must be said he´s not nearly as efficient when it comes to build up a full supply of chakra. But you see, his control over the chakra itself is so flawless that he has no problems producing five clones as easily as Sakura can. So the result is the same, even if Sasuke does waste more chakra at getting there."

Naruto took a moment to stop eating just to say, "Whaddaya know! And I thought Sasuke was perfect in everything!"

"Wipe that smile off your face. You are in no position to make fun of everyone else."

"Why?"

"You´re no good at building up your chakra _or_ controlling it," Ebisu said, "the result being you requiring much more chakra to produce any clones. You have to exert much more effort, and even then, after all the effort and wasting much more chakra than either Sasuke or Sakura, you can barely produce two clones at best. In fact, using the same amount of chakra you use, Sakura and Sasuke could come up with ten clones. You see, you all have very different levels of ability just on this one Jutsu." He smiled at Naruto. "Oh well, I may have been exaggerating a bit in my comparison, but the bottom line is, you waste too much of your strength, Naruto, and build up too much chakra. You need to learn some control, that´s all."

"Yeah, well, if I´m such a lame-o, how come there´ve been times where I´ve done better than they have?" Naruto asked in anger.

"That´s not the same thing!" the man said. "That is only because you have reserves in energy and stamina that are hardly even human!" Naruto was shocked at that outburst. Ebisu calmed down and said, "The point is, we both know you´re strong, Naruto, but you can become so much stronger if you let me show you how."

"Really? You mean it?" Naruto asked, being a little encouraged.

"I not only mean it, I guarantee it!" The man stood up. "Now, if you´re ready, let´s begin!" He was then on his way out…

…before the noodle stand owner said, "Sir? Your bill!"

"Oh! I forgot!" When Ebisu turned around, he was shocked to see that Naruto had consumed about twenty bowls during their talk about chakra control, and the owner was smiling widely at the thought of getting paid. "_**NARUTOOOOOOO!**_" he screamed as he paid the bill.

"Thank you! Come again!" the owner´s daughter, who also worked there, said.

* * *

><p>Later, near the hot springs that belonged to the town, Ebisu and Naruto have arrived there. "Okay, do you mind explaining to me how we ended up here?" the latter asked. "Is a <em>bath <em>part of my training? Not that I´d mind soaking my feet after that hike-"

"Naruto!" the man shouted as he saw the boy walk a bit too far off in a wrong direction. "Where do you think you´re going? That´s the women´s bath! I will not allow any disreputable behavior, young man!

Naruto stopped walking and glared at the man. _'Disreputable behavior'?_ he asked in thought. _What´s he talking about? Like I was trying to sneak a peek. From what I know about him, _he´s _the real pervert around here!_

The boy walked over to Ebisu while still glaring at him. "What´s with that look?" the latter asked.

"Oh, that´s nothing," the boy responded and stopped glaring. "Anyway, what in the world are we doing here? Are you gonna train me in how to wash behind my ears?"

"Not quite," Ebisu said while readjusting his glasses. "But you´re right, it IS part of your training." The two of them entered the men´s bath and approached the spring. "Right here – this is the place!"

"A bath?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded. "Okay, what´s going on?"

"Like I told you before, this is all part of your training."

"Okay, maybe you oughta take this one again from the top," Naruto sighed. "What am I training for, again?"

Ebisu chuckled. "I´m going to teach you how to walk… on water," he answered.

Naruto, however, was not convinced. "Do you seriously expect me to believe that you really know how to walk on water?" he asked.

"According to what Kakashi told me, you´ve already learned how to climb a tree without using your hands, right? This is a variation of that. But instead of channeling chakra to your feet in order to stick to the tree´s surface, you must both do that while constantly adjust the rate of discharging chakra in order to stay on the shifting surface. This is obviously more difficult than maintaining a set amount of chakra. But that´s what chakra control is all about: being able to discharge it at a steady order to the various rates. Do you understand?"

"I wish I did…" Naruto grumbled.

"Well, perhaps it would be easier if I just showed you?" Ebisu made a hand-seal, causing his soles to slightly glow, and then he walked out on the water near the hot spring! All of this while explaining, "First, build up the chakra and send it to the soles of your feet. Then, carefully calibrate the amount in each foot so you can maintain balance." He turned around and smirked at the boy. "There! You see? THAT´s how it´s done!"

"Cool! Let me try!" Naruto said as he repeated what the man did. But when he took the first step into the spring… he fell in. He then screamed as he got up on land.

"Oh, by the way, it IS a hot spring, so don´t fall in like that," Ebisu sadistically said. "You´d be boiled like a lobster."

"Very funny!" Naruto growled as he got back up on his feet.

As Naruto tried to walk on water again and again, constantly failing each time, Ebisu reflected upon how the boy´s determination has inspired Konohamaru to train without using any shortcuts. He then noticed how Naruto now was able to keep himself afloat by his ankles. _He´s already starting to master it! Incredible!_ he thought as he readjusted his glasses._ Indeed, there are no shortcuts in anything. Perhaps you were a better teacher to Konohamaru than I was? It seems I was wrong about you, Naruto. There is more within you than a demon spirit – there is the heart of a splendid Konoha ninja._

Naruto noticed something that caused him to lose balance. Ebisu looked at where the boy looked and saw an old man peeking into the women´s bath. "Are you peeking into the women´s bath, old man?" he calmly asked the pervert. He then ran towards the peeper while shouting, "I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS DIREPUTABLE BEHAVIOR!"

"Oh please!" the old man said and made a hand-seal. From out of nowhere, a giant orange toad appeared under the old man, wrapped its long tongue around Ebisu, lifted him up into the air, and slammed him face-first into the ground, knocking him out! "What´s wrong with you? Keep it down! Do you wanna get us busted, idiot?"

On closer notice, the man was tall with waist-length, spiky white hair tied into back into a ponytail and with two shoulder-length bangs framing in his face, red lines going down from his eyes, a horned ninja headband with the kanji for 'oil' on it, a tattoo in his left palm, and a noticeable wart on the right side of his nose. He wore a green short kimono and matching pants, mesh armor that shoved out of the sleeves and legs, hand guards, a black belt, wooden sandals, a red cloak with two yellow circles, and a giant scroll on his back.

_Who is this guy?_ Naruto asked in thought. _He flattened my trainer! And what´s worse: he´s an even bigger perv than Ebisu!_

Who might this old perverted man be? What will happen to Naruto´s training now that his sensei has been bested? And how much will everyone improve during this month?

* * *

><p>dopliss: I know that I didn´t include the scene with Naruto running and Ebisu chasing him, but that was just pointless filler. I hope you all understand, my dear readers. And while this chapter happened, I thought of something to do during the Author´s notes, but it´s too late now.<p>

Fun fact: The episode of the anime where this happened was the last one from the series to be shown on Danish television.


	37. Chapter 37 Jiraiya: sage or pervert?

**dopliss: And here we introduce the funniest character in the Naruto series! …And I, sadly, forgot my joke.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Man, it´s so boring here without Mizuki…**

* * *

><p>Naruto walked up to the unconscious body of the man that was supposed to train him during the month before the finals. "Hey… perv, are you awake?" he asked. He then got behind him, formed his hands so that his index and middle fingers lined up, and crouched down behind him. "Only one way to find out… Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!" And with that, he poked Ebisu in the rectum with his fingers – but unlike how Torabu did it on him, he did not add any chakra in the so-called technique.<p>

Naruto stood up and sighed, "Man, he´s totally out of it. Some trainer… he´s pathetic." He then looked at the old man on the frog and shouted, "Okay, frogman, what the hell was _that_ all about? Who do you think you are, anyway?"

As the frog reeled its tongue back in, the man said in an overdramatic tone, "I´m glad you asked! I´m the Hermit of Mount Myoboku! The wise and immortal spirit! That´s right! It is I, the Toad Mountain SAAAAAAGE!"

Naruto was obviously confused. "What? 'Toad Sage'?" he asked.

"Exactly!" the perverted man said as his toad disappeared and he landed on his feet.

"Well… listen here, Pervy Sage, what´re you gonna do about this?" the boy asked, pointing at Ebisu. "This guy´s supposed to be training me, and you laid him out flatter than a bathmat!"

"Well, he shouldn´t have interfered with my research," the Toad Sage coolly replied.

"Your 'research'?" Naruto asked, disgusted by the man´s lie.

The man reached into his cloak with a smirk on his lips. "You see, I´m a novelist," he explained. "I am a writer of great books. Like this!" And then he pulled out a novel titled… "Make-Out Paradise", the same book that Kakashi has often seen been reading!

"WHAT? _You_ wrote that?" Naruto asked in shock, easily remembering having seen his sensei reading it.

"Yes! I see you know it!" the man smiled widely. _I´m famous and it´s not even out on paperback yet!_

"You call that pervy trash a **novel**?" Naruto shouted in disgust. "'Research'? Yeah, right! Just an excuse for you to peek at the girls in the bath house!"

The boy shouted so loud that the women inside of the bath house heard him, and each screamed in shock and fled towards the dressing rooms while covering themselves with their towels, embarrassed and frightened. Upon hearing this, the old man screamed out in panic. "Look at what you´ve done!" he melancholy screamed. "You´ve ruined my peeking! I mean my research!"

"Dirty old man…" the boy muttered.

"You little…!" the Toad Sage growled as he walked up to Naruto. "There´s nothing dirty about it! I happen to be a serious artist who´s inspired by youth and beauty, that´s all! And-!"

"Yeah, whatever… Like anyone believes that," Naruto interrupted stoically. "Who cares, anyway? What about my training?"

The old man calmed down and looked at the boy questioningly. "Your training?" he asked. "You mean the walking-on-water technique you were having so much trouble with?"

Naruto looked at the old man with curious eyes. "You can do it?" he asked. He then pointed at the man and declared, "Okay, then it´s up to you to teach it to me – you at least owe me _that_!"

The man harrumphed as he walked past the boy. "Stop bothering me, kid, I´m busy," he scoffed.

Dissatisfied with the perverted man´s refusal, Naruto shouted after him, "Hey, wait! Come back here, you pervy sage! Where´s your sense of responsibility? You´ve gotta train me!"

Turning around to face the boy, the Toad Sage shouted, "Not on your life! I can´t work with someone who doesn´t respect the work of a true artist!" He then said in a much calmer voice, "Besides, I don´t like kids."

Naruto knew that he had screwed up when he had insulted the man´s work. He then tried to put up an act by saying, "Uh, actually, I thought your book Make-Out Paradise was, uh… really well written, and interesting, and informative."

"Liar," the man scowled, easily seeing through the boy´s lie. "The purchase and reading of that book is prohibited for anyone under the age of eighteen."

"Oh? Yeah… but the reviews I read were great!"

"You really think that´s going to work on me?" the man asked, losing patience. "What do you take me for, an idiot? I happen to be a SAGE! Save your breath, kid, you can´t butter me up!" He then made a hand-seal and a powerful gust of wind surrounded him.

"Okay, you´re right!" Naruto pleaded, using it as a last resort. "Sorry! But wait, you can´t-!" The wind then grew more powerful and caused the boy to stop talking, using his strength to shield himself from the wind instead.

"SO LONG AND GOOD LUUUUCK!" the Toad Sage cackled as he leaped off across the rooftops.

As the wind died down, Naruto looked at the direction that the old man left in with a wide smile of awe on his face. "That was cool!" he marveled. "I don´t care if he is a dirty old man, that guy´s the real deal!" He then ran off to chase the perverted man, leaving the unconscious Ebisu behind.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in her basement, Sairento sat in the darkness, meditating in a circle of lit candles. In front of her and outside of the circle were twenty wooden training dolls, each standing at a different angle and location. The light from the candles was not the only source of light in the room, however. Peeking through the door that lead to the basement were an orange-haired man in his forties, dressed in black kimono, and a silver-haired woman, also in her forties and in a white kimono.<p>

"I am starting to worry for our daughter, dear," the woman said to the man. "She´s been down there for six hours now."

"I agree, Kanashii my wife," the man replied. "But she insisted that she´d train alone down there."

"She must take breaks at some point," Kanashii stated, clinging on to her husband´s left arm. "Can you please talk with her, Hadona?"

Hadona looked his wife in the eyes. "Do you still think she´s upset at you?" he asked.

"She´s been like that to me ever since she became a ninja." Her eyes softened. "Would you please talk with her?"

He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. "Of course I will, Darling." He then walked down the stairs and towards the mute girl.

When he was mere steps away from her, she said, "I could hear you both clearly."

He stopped and looked down at her. "Sairento dear, why don´t you stop the training for a moment and come up from this darkness?" he asked.

"I have a lot of training to do, Father, so I can´t waste any time for dawdling around." She did not even turn around to look at him.

"How far have you gotten in that, by the way?" he asked, curious about her progress.

"Watch," Sairento ordered.

The man then saw a ghostly image appear in front of his daughter. "So, you´re using that Jutsu…" he whispered.

The image then ran towards each of the training dolls, and with a single strike, it cleaved one of them in two! The image then ran at the other dolls and cleaved them in half one at the time. When there were no dolls left, the image disappeared.

"Impressive," Hadona whistled. "You managed to learn that technique in merely six hours."

"Yes, learned… but not mastered," the mute girl said in a dissatisfied tone. "It was incomplete in form, it moved slowly, and it took a lot of time to gather the chakra necessary to produce it. I must train more."

The man looked at his daughter in pity. "Do you really think that´s a wise decision?" he asked.

Once again, she did not turn around to look at her father. "I suggest you leave me be."

He stood up and turned around. "Will you at least come up for dinner?"

"I will."

The man walked over to the stairs, and then turned around to ask, "Are you still upset at your mother?"

The mute girl said nothing.

"Can you at least tell me _why_ you aren´t on friendly terms with her?"

Her answer was blunt and simple: "She never made it past genin rank… but instead married a jonin."

The man turned away from her. "You wouldn´t be here if she didn´t."

"I could possibly have been conceived later."

He then walked up the stairs, leaving with the words, "No matter what, you look just like her."

After he had closed the door, Sairento asked aloud to herself, "Why do you think I´m wearing a mask?"

* * *

><p>"Hey! Pervy Sage! Where are you?" Naruto shouted, having run around town in search for the old man. He then stopped at a crossroad in the village and asked himself, "Where´d he disappear to?"<p>

He then heard the scream from a woman and an audible slap coming from a nearby restaurant. "What do you think you´re doing, you disgusting old man?" a woman asked in anger.

Naruto then saw a woman exit the restaurant, the Toad Sage following her while rubbing his sore cheek. "I´m sorry, but you have such a beautiful pair of soft and lovely… hands!" the latter apologized. "You really do have beautiful hands! How do you keep them so soft?"

The woman was not amused or flattered in the slightest. Naruto visibly winced when he saw her slap the old man across the other cheek. "Filthy beast!" she screamed and walked away.

"So much for soft hands… geez…" the Toad Sage muttered.

"What was I thinking?" Naruto groaned to himself. "This guy´s really pathetic… He´s even pervier than my last trainer… but it´s not like I have much choice." He then began slowly walking over to the perverted man.

"Hmm… looks like the women in this town are no friendlier than before…" the Toad Sage mused. "Still, I like ´em feisty."

"So, you´ve been here before, huh?" Naruto asked, causing the man to turn around. He then shouted, "I´m surprised they don´t make you wear a leash, you old pervert!"

The man shushed the boy and said, "You know, I really wish you didn´t use the word 'pervert'."

"Oh yeah? Well, tell me how you like the word 'joke', ´cause that´s what you are, mister: a joke!" The boy was screaming even louder now. "First I get stuck with a closet pervert, and now… AUGH! Why can´t I get a trainer that-!"

"Oh, put a lid on it, willya?" the old man complained as he picked the boy up, threw him into a nearby big pot, put a lid on it, and blocked it with a relatively big rock. "There you go, kid, you can train in there for a while." He then turned around and walked away, laughing loudly as he heard Naruto´s muffled complains emit from the pot.

* * *

><p>Sometime later, the old man was in the forest, smoking a pipe. "What I´d give for just a… few minutes with a young, pretty girl…" he lamentably sighed as he exhaled smoke. He then gazed at the skies and fantasized that the clouds had the shape of pretty women, all giggling and wooing at him.<p>

He giggled perversely at his imagination, and then looked to his right, where he saw five shuriken flying towards him. In a state of panic, he rushed behind a fallen tree in order to cover. Naruto then appeared where the man once sat and said, "You can´t get rid of me that easy!" He then walked over the fallen tree and was greeted by the sight of a big brown clay doll. "Well, whaddaya know; a Replacement Jutsu. Not bad, old man."

As Naruto walked off, he was unaware that he had assumed wrongly. The clay doll was surrounded in a puff of smoke, and the old man was in its place once it cleared. "Man, that was close," he groaned. "Little squirt… You´ll have to be a lot smarter than that to outfox the Toad Mountain Sage."

Naruto was not that naïve, however, as his head popped over the tree, a bored expression on his face. "Oh yeah? How am I doing now?" he bluntly asked, scaring the daylights out of the Toad Sage.

After having calmed down, the man finally gave in to the boy´s will. "Okay, I´ll admit, you´re not totally without talent," he admitted.

"So does that mean you´re gonna help me with my training?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Not so fast, squirt. It´s a question of quid pro quo," the man said. "I´ll give you what you want, but in return you have to try and get me what _I_ want." He stood up.

"So, what do you want?" Naruto asked.

"You must know by now," the man chuckled. "I like them ripe and luscious with an hourglass figure, you see? And big but not too big, you know what I mean?" He felt the need to outline the object of his desire with his hands. "If you bring me something like that, I will train you till the cows come home!"

"You will? No lie?" the boy asked excitedly as he stood up.

"The Toad Mountain Sage never lies!"

"You got it! Wait here!" Naruto ordered as he ran off in search for the object.

Unfortunately, the perverted man could not keep his promise, as he minutes after saw two young women walking together and decided to follow them. _Too bad, kid, it´s not like we had a contract!_

* * *

><p>A little later, in a café in Konoha, the Toad Sage was having a lot of fun with the women. "…And then I said, 'Not with <em>my<em> rice ball, you don´t!'" he said, finishing a story and then laughing loudly afterwards, the girls laughing less loudly along with him.

"That´s a pretty funny story," one of the women said.

"It´s funny, yes, but it´s not a story," the man said. "Every word of it is true."

"Really?" the other woman asked. "What happened next?"

Before the Toad Sage could continue, all three of them heard Naruto shouting, "Hey! Pervy Sage! I´m back!"

"What? Did he call you pervy?" one of the women asked while the other was giggling.

As the orange-clad boy ran up to him, the man scolded, "You little runt! I told you not to call me that!"

"Look! I got you one, just the way you like ´em: a ripe and luscious one with curves!" Naruto said, presenting… a watermelon with an hourglass figure.

"THAT´S NOT WHAT I MEANT, YOU FOOLISH BOY!" the man screamed as he quickly sliced the watermelon into edible pieces, much to the boy´s joy.

"Talk about ripe and juicy!" Naruto said, almost drooling.

"Dig in; we might as well not let it all go to waste," the man said calmly as he and the boy each took a slice. At that moment, rather than noticing Ebisu spying on them, the Toad Sage noticed that the two women were gone. "THE LADIES! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LADIES?" he screamed in lament.

After having eaten the vegetable, Naruto rubbed his stuffed belly in satisfactory. "Man, that was the best!" he sighed in joy.

The man, however, was less than pleased. "Struck out again…" he moaned as he stood up and began to walk away from the café. "Now I must be off. I´ve wasted too much time already."

"Hey!" Naruto complained as he got up and stopped the man in his tracks. "What´re you talking about? Where´re you going? What about my training? We had a deal!"

"I don´t give a flying fist for your training!" the Toad Sage shouted, waving his arms up and down like a crazy person. "I have my research to conduct!"

"'Research' my butt!" the boy grumbled, pointing an accusing finger at the man. "It´s not like I have anything better to do than to hang around with a pervy old poop like you! I´ve gotta train till I´m stronger than anyone, ´cause I´m gonna pass the Chunin Exams! And then someday, I´m gonna be Hokage!"

"Ha! That´s a good one!" the man scoffed. "Tell me, did you fall on your head when you were a baby? Is that what makes you this way? Now I know you´re wasting my time." He then glared seriously at Naruto. "That´s enough! I need to get on with my research! And for that, I´m gonna need a lovely lady! No fruits, no vegetables, but a _**LADY**_!"

The boy looked dumbfounded at the man. "A lady?" he repeated. "Oh, if that´s what you wanted, why didn´t you say so? No problem!" He then smirked, cracked his knuckles, and then used the Sexy-Jutsu to transform into the naked teenage girl.

Unfortunately for Ebisu, he was so shocked that he fell backwards and into a well. The Toad Sage, however, was ecstatic. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head and his voice rose several octaves in rapid gasps. Naruto looked at him and said, "If you keep staring like that, I´m gonna blush," putting on an act for the old man.

"So… so lovelyyyy…" the old man muttered. He then gave two 'thumbs-up' and shouted, "WE GOT A WINNER! A PERFECT TEN!"

_Pathetic…_ Naruto thought, struggling to keep up the façade.

"She´s just… my type! I really, really… like her!" the Toad Sage said, viewing Naruto´s body from each angle available. "How did you do it? Where on Earth did she come from?"

"Um… no biggie. I call it my Sexy-Jutsu," Naruto replied.

"Yeah! I love it!" The man was drooling like crazy. "You´re a genious, kid! This is one amazing technique!"

_Yeah, it seems to have that effect on a lot of older guys, _Naruto thought in a deadpan voice. Looking as cute as possible, she asked, "So, you´ll help me with my training now, right?"

"YOU BET!" the man excitedly yelled. "…Erm, on one condition."

Surprised, Naruto put her index finger at her lower lip in a cute fashion and asked, "A condition? What is it?"

He laughed perversely and turned around, hiding his embarrassment and bleeding nose. "I´ll do it if you promise… to stay like that the whole time."

Annoyed, Naruto turned back to normal, pointed an accusing finger at the Toad Sage, and shouted, "I knew it! You ARE pathetic! You´re nothing but a lousy little pervert!"

"I am **not **a little pervert!" the man defended angrily.

"Oh yeah? Then tell me; what are you?"

The man let out a loud cackle, wiggled his fingers in a creepy fashion, and said, "I´m a BIG one!"

"Oh… great, that makes all the difference…" Naruto muttered in disgust.

* * *

><p>Later still, the two were now at a riverside, sitting in a meditative stance. "Okay, we´ll just pretend none of that happened," the man said. "Now, let´s begin your training."<p>

Naruto glared at him. "And you really mean it this time?" he asked skeptically.

The Toad Sage glared back at him. "A sage always means what he says. Now, go ahead and show me that technique you were working on before."

Naruto nodded and walked over to the water´s edge. He channeled chakra to his soles and began walking on the liquid surface, though rather wobbly. He lasted for twenty seconds before he fell into the river. The man could not help but laugh as Naruto dragged himself back to shore.

"You really DO need help, don´t you?" the man laughed, causing the boy to groan.

"I should know by now to take my clothes off first!" Naruto growled as he stripped down to only being in his boxers.

The man then noticed something and said, "Hey, go on and build your chakra one more time."

"Can´t I dry off a little first?"

"Now. Do it."

As Naruto did what he was told, he closed his eyes to focus more effectively. The man then locked his eyes on the boy´s stomach and saw the seal on it. "Amazing!" he gasped, causing the boy to look at him. he then covered up his outburst with a lie. "Wow… you have no excess body fat. How do you do it?"

"Do you mind, old man? I´m trying to train here!" Naruto complained as he closed his eyes and focused his chakra again.

The Toad Sage looked intently at the seal on the boy´s stomach. _So this is the formula used to imprison the nine-tailed fox, _he thought as he sat in front of the boy. _A double tetragram seal with an eight-signed seal. That way, if any of the demon´s chakra escapes the tetragram seal, it would be safely channeled into and suppressed by the boy´s chakra. The Fourth Hokage… he did this for the boy´s protection._ He smiled, but it faded when he saw five circles appear around the seal. _But since then, a Five-Pronged Seal has been added. _He touched the seal with his left palm. _An odd-numbered seal on top of an even-numbered? That explains it. That´s why the boy´s chakra and the demon´s are merging in an unstable way. It´s no wonder he can´t control his chakra very well._

At that moment, Naruto began laughing from the touches on his stomach. "Cut it out! What´re you doing? That tickles!" he laughed.

"Oh, sorry about that," the man apologized as he removed his palm from the boy and stood up. _This is the work of someone else. If I have to guess, I´d say it was Orochimaru…_ He hid his right hand behind his back as the fingertips caught a blue mystical fire with the same kanji in them as when Orochimaru put the seal on the orange-clad boy. "Okay, raise your arms high above your head."

"Why?" Naruto asked, looking at the man.

"It´s a trust exercise," the Toad Sage lied. "C´mon, raise ´em high!"

_Well, this is a weird way to get started…_ Naruto thought as he did what he was told.

"Five-Pronged Seal Release!" the man roared as he thrust his right hand into the boy´s stomach, his fingertips hitting each of the circles around the seal, erasing them!

The seal disappeared as Naruto recovered from the blow. "What the hell was that for?" he coughed.

"Just pushing a pressure point to loosen you up," the Toad Sage lied. "Now, go on. Try walking on the water again."

Reluctantly, Naruto did as he was told – and this time, he could stand on the water´s surface with perfect balance! "Whoa! That´s weird!" he gasped upon seeing this. He then began jumping from one foot to the other, laughing cockily as he did so. "Look at that, I´m doing it! Just don´t ask me how!"

_Hmm… I think it´s about time to teach him how to control the Kyubi´s chakra,_ the old man thought with a smile. "Okay, outta the pool!" he ordered. "C´mon, I´m gonna teach you a killer technique."

"You are? Really?" Naruto asked as he ran towards the surface. "You mean like something really powerful and destructive?"

A little later, the old man said to Naruto, "Now then, there´s something you need to understand, kid, before we go any further. I don´t think you´re even aware of it, but you posses two chakras within you."

"_Two_ chakras?" Naruto repeated.

"Haven´t you ever felt the presence of a different chakra?"

Naruto crossed his arms in thought. "Well, I´m not sure." He then realized something. "Oh, wait! I do kind of remember… there´s this one time… it was, like, all of a sudden I had this weird surge of power, and I didn´t know where it came from. I don´t remember when it was exactly, I almost thought it was a dream."

"So I see…" the Toad Sage nodded.

"But I do remember feeling that this was something different than my usual chakra. My normal chakra… well, if it was a color, it´d be blue, but this was red."

"I see…" the perverted man nodded as the boy got dressed. "Okay, that´s enough training for today," he said and began walking off.

"What, already?" Naruto asked as he caught up with the man. "What about that killer technique? Come on, I´m just getting started! Let´s go!"

"In training as in cooking: a washed pot never boils," the man said in a proverb. "Now, let´s go back to the village and have a real bath, not one where you just fall in, okay?"

* * *

><p>Later that night, on the rooftops, Ebisu confronted the Toad Sage. "Sorry, Ebisu, it wasn´t my plan to steal your student from you," the latter apologized.<p>

"Oh, that´s of little importance," Ebisu said. "Lord Hokage has had his ninjas searching for you everywhere. We were just beginning to think that you would never be found. And then you turn up here of all places, right in front of me. He will be pleased."

"Have you told the Hokage you found me yet?"

"No, not yet," Ebisu shook his head.

"Very good. It´s better that way," the old man stated.

"You´re after Orochimaru, aren´t you?" Ebisu assumed.

"No, unfortunately, I can´t say that I am. Sorry." The old man looked at the starry sky. "The only thing that brought me here was the chance of doing some research for a book. I have no desire to get involved in that other business."

"What do you mean? You can´t be serious!" Ebisu exclaimed. "You know him better than anyone! There´s only one way to deal with Orochimaru! He´s one of the sannin, the legendary three ninjas, and he can only be stopped by the power from another sannin! YOUR power, Master Jiraiya!"

Is it really true that Jiraiya refuses to fight Orochimaru? What kind of powerful technique will he teach Naruto? And will he learn it in time for the final round of the Chunin Exam?

* * *

><p>dopliss: An excellent chapter, if I have to say! "Yes, you have to!" Shut up, Mizuki! (disheartened) Man, it´s not the same without him here…<p>

On a lighter note: until next chapter, I´m gonna play the hell out of Xenoblade Chronicles!


	38. Chapter 38 Daily tuition, nightly plans

**dopliss: Guess what, guys: VACATION TIME! From today to next Monday, I can stay at home and relax while playing games! And I´ll also be able to upload more than two chapters a week!**

**Disclaimer: I only own this story and the original characters.**

* * *

><p>The moon shined its radiant light down upon Konoha and the trees around it. Sitting in the nearby forest in a meditative stance, Torabu held out both of his hands to the side so that the palms were facing upwards. He calmly and silently breathed as he concentrated his chakra.<p>

Sitting nearby on a tree stump, Fukigen had his eyes locked on to the boy. "Have you gathered enough chakra, boy?" he asked.

"Yes…" the troublemaking ninja answered. "Now what?"

"The secret of using the Subzero Sphere is to gather as much cold in your hands as possible, then mold that air into balls of pure ice."

"And how do I do that?" the cat-boy asked without breaking his stance.

"The air is mixed with two temperatures: hot and cold. Using the cold air alone along with your chakra can cause it to get cold enough to reach subzero temperatures. Let´s say, for example, that the weather is twenty degrees hot. Even then, there´s still a fragment of cold air which you can use."

The boy nodded. "So, you´re saying that I can use the technique even if I was in a volcano?" he asked.

"Indeed," the Bakeneko answered. "Any other questions?"

"What would happen if I was to use the hot air instead of the cold?"

The cat smirked slightly. "Your roommate has already shown you, by using you as the target."

"Wait…" He looked at the feline sensei. "You´re saying that the Volcano Blast and the Subzero Sphere are the same?" he asked.

"Same, yes, but still complete opposites." He stomped with his staff on the ground. "Now, show me your progress."

Torabu nodded and closed his eyes, concentrating on the cold air around him. Slowly, two balls of ice were forming in his hands. After a minute of concentrating, the boy opened his eyes and stared at the spheres. "Wow, cool!" he exclaimed in awe.

_I´m surprised that he could make two of them on his first try outside of his berserk state,_ Fukigen thought, showing no hint of surprise. _But then again, it could be because of-_

The cat´s thoughts were interrupted as his left ear twisted, picking up a sound. "We´re not alone, boy," he whispered loudly, causing the troublemaking ninja to look at the feline.

"I´ll chase ´em off with these two!" Torabu said, preparing the spheres to be thrown.

"Only on my command," the cat said, giving his student a sharp look.

Out from the bushes surrounding them, the last participator from the sound village walked out of hiding. "So, you managed to hear me, huh?" he asked slowly.

"Would be ironic if a sound ninja was silent," the cat-boy growled.

"Why are you here?" Fukigen asked, his voice dripping with acid.

Dosu looked directly at Torabu. "You and that sand rat are keeping me from getting to Sasuke," he said ominously. "Once I´ve gotten rid of you and him, I would be his first opponent." He then held out his right arm, preparing to attack.

"You think you can stop me with that sound crap?" the cat-boy asked, narrowing his eyes. He then held up both of the spheres. "See these two? One of them alone would be able to turn you into an ice sculpture. Wanna see for yourself?"

Dosu glared at the two in front of him. "If they are like the fireball you spat at us in the Forest of Death, you know what the result will be."

"Yeah, but that was your little loudmouthed friend that took care of it," Torabu said, smirking widely. "And last time I saw him, his arms looked like Swiss cheese."

"I suggest that you leave now and go practice to your upcoming match," the Bakeneko said ominously. "Resist, and you will receive pain so severe, you will wish we killed you."

Just as that was said, Dosu saw for one second a powerful chakra emitting from the cat. _What was that? That chakra… it was almost demonic…_ he thought, slightly alarmed. _I can easily beat the cat-boy by myself, but that cat… something´s hidden inside of him… something monstrous. If I fight the two of them at once…_ He then let his right arm fall to his side, turned around, and leaped away.

"Let´s hope he´s gonna stay outta trouble for the remainder of the month," Fukigen whispered, and then turned to the cat-boy. "Now, aren´t you gonna throw them at a tree or something?"

"Huh? Oh, right!" the troublemaking ninja said and faced two trees. He then flung the two spheres at the trees, and they froze instantly upon contact. "Awesome!" he cheered.

"Keep it down!" the feline sensei hissed, throwing his stick at Torabu, hitting him in the head. "Do you want to wake the whole town?"

Rubbing his head and lowly grumbling insults, the cat-boy glared at his sensei. "So, what now?" he asked once he had calmed down.

"Practice that technique for three hours, then we´ll sleep," the cat said, turning around. "I´ll go get some blankets for you." And then he was off, leaving his student alone in the forest.

* * *

><p>Down on the black streets of Konoha, Kabuto and the jonin of the Sand Siblings looked up at the rooftop of a temple-like building known as Kikyo Castle, where Gaara was up on. The redhead panted heavily, having just unleashed a severely strong power from his body.<p>

"Amazing," Kabuto said. "So, that´s Gaara´s true form, is it?"

Unknown to the two, Hayate was eavesdropping behind a nearby wall, a sword on his back. "Are you sure that the sound ninjas should´ve been used as guinea pigs to test the power of Sasuke?" the jonin asked.

_What is going on here?_ Hayate asked in thought, aware that Kabuto is a spy.

"That´s true… or it was," Kabuto answered. "They´re not necessary anymore. See, the thing is, I was ordered to see Sasuke when he was in the hospital, but I… well, I failed in that mission."

The jonin looked at the spy. "Wait, what?" he asked in surprise.

"That´s right," Kabuto simply nodded. "Yes, that´s right, they´ve discovered that I´m an agent of the sound village."

"Wait a minute. If they know who you are and the people find out that you´re having a secret meeting with me, then the plan to destroy Konoha will be completely ruined. I thought you were Orochimaru´s right-hand man, but after being revealed to them, you just nonchalantly come here and meet with me? You´re a fool."

Chuckling, Kabuto stated, "Well, to be exact, they didn´t really discover what my true identity was on their own. I _let_ them find out." He looked at the jonin and held out his hand. "Yes, I wanted to see just how far Konoha will go when they discovered the truth. And even after they did, I knew it wouldn´t be too late to see Sasuke."

The jonin looked his associate and said, "It´s a plan that was originally posed by the sound village, so if you guys are gonna fail, we´ll have to back off immediately." He narrowed his visible eye. "The sand won´t make a move until the last moment. This is the will of the Kazekage."

Shocked at what he heard, Hayate thought, _This can´t be!_

"Very well," Kabuto said and pulled out a small scroll from his pocket. "This is the plan that you´re to carry out." The jonin took the scroll. "And remember, make sure you tell them about this plan as soon as possible."

"Yes… I know…" the jonin said.

"Alright…" Kabuto turned away from his associate. "…then I´ll be going."

_To think, our ally, the sand village, has a secret pact with the sound village, _Hayate thought. _I must tell Lord Hokage!_

"One more thing," Kabuto said. "I´ll take care of our little spy."

Hayate winced upon hearing that he had been discovered. "Wait, _I_ will handle this," the jonin interjected. "As a gesture of faith in our allegiance, the least we sand ninja can do is lend a helping hand. Besides, it´s just one little spy – it´ll be easy."

Hayate quickly leapt to the rooftops, the jonin following close behind him. After having leaped from roof to roof, Hayate was intercepted. The sand jonin tried to punch the proctor, but he back-flipped and made some distance between the two.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the sand jonin asked. "If it isn´t the exam proctor. What in the world do you think you´re doing, coming here all alone?"

Hayate coughed a little before saying, "Seems I have no choice but to fight." He slowly pulled his sword out of its sheet with his left hand while making a hand-seal with his right. "Leaf Style: Crescent Moon Dance!" he shouted and ran towards his opponent.

Once he was five steps away from reaching him, Hayate split up into several clones and disappeared along with them. Confused, the sand jonin looked around. He then found his opponent up in the sky, falling towards him, preparing to strike with the sword. Hayate swung his sword and struck his opponent in the shoulder. Even though a little blood splattered out, the sword could not cut any more through the sand jonin.

"Impressive," the Sand Siblings´ sensei smirked. "Leaf Style: Crescent Moon Dance, and being able to master it at such a young age… As I expected, your village is full of talented ninjas." He took hold of the blade with his left hand. "Your talent with a sword is superb. Of course, stopping a physical sword is easy." His smirk turned malicious. "However, a Wind Sword is another story. No one can stop it!"

The jonin made a hand-seal with his right hand, and as a strong gust of wind surrounded it, Hayate stared in horror.

* * *

><p>Next morning, outside of the village, three young women were bathing together in a small spring, dressed in their bikinis, giggling as they splashed water at each other. Nearby, hidden in some bushes, Jiraiya was peeping perversely at the women, grinning widely and chuckling silently.<p>

"Oh, wow!" he silently exclaimed.

Glaring impatiently at the Toad Sage, Naruto crossed his arms and growled, "Knock it off!"

"We´re truly in paradise, Naruto!" the old man giggled.

"You are so creepy!"

Jiraiya´s giggling became more and more perversely and mad as he looked on. When Naruto had had enough with the man, he changed into his Sexy-Jutsu form, walked up behind the old pervert, and covered his eyes with her hands.

"Mr. Jiraiya, shouldn´t you pay attention to me now?" she asked innocently and sweetly. She then whispered into his ear, "I´m just desperate for someone to train me, and you´re the only one who can do it, super-hunky sensei. Pretty please, Master Jiraiya?"

"So you finally came out of hiding, huh?" the old man asked with a blush on his cheeks. "I´ve been waiting for you!" He then turned around to look at Naruto, but unfortunately for him, the boy had leaped away from him and turned back into his normal form before he saw him. "No fair…" Jiraiya said depressingly. "Hey, are you just making fun of me, Naruto?"

"Listen, there´s nothing 'fun' about this situation," the boy stoically stated.

Just then, the women left the spring to return to Konoha in search for something to eat, much to the Toad Sage´s disappointment. "Damn, now they´re leaving…" he groaned. "Alright, Naruto, I guess I´ll teach you the technique now."

"Well, it´s about time – and you better not be kidding around here!" Naruto sighed.

The two sat down near the spring, and then Jiraiya asked, "Okay, do you remember what we talked about yesterday? You know, that stuff about the two types of chakra?"

"We _talked_ yesterday?" Naruto asked sardonically, remembering all of the trouble he had to go through in order to make the man train him.

"Very funny. Remember how you said you had two different chakras, one red and one blue?"

"Yeah, what about them?" the boy asked.

"You said that when you exerted enormous strength, you felt red chakra."

"I don´t know how else to describe it."

"Alright," the Toad Sage nodded, "try building up that red chakra right now."

"Right now?" Naruto asked. "Well, okay, if you say so." He then made a hand-seal and charged chakra, but it was the blue chakra that surrounded him. he stopped charging and said, "It´s the same chakra as always."

"Aw man, you really have absolute zero talent, don´t you, kid?" Jiraiya groaned.

"Hey, don´t go acting like _you´re_ so great!" Naruto yelled. "Besides, I can´t help it! I mean, I don't even understand those two types of chakra myself, alright?"

"_Just keep trying_," Jiraiya said in a strangely ominous tone. Naruto tried again with no further complaints. _Hmm… so he doesn´t understand it, huh? Naruto probably still hasn´t realized that the red chakra is really the Kyubi´s chakra. Judging by his story, it seems that the excitement caused by danger and also strong emotion are the keys to summoning its chakra._

"It´s just no good," Naruto sighed, giving up. "I´m only getting the usual everyday chakra here." He then got an idea and turned to face his trainer. "Hey, hold on a second. Maybe I don´t even _need_ to summon the red chakra? I mean, what in the world does it have to do with that technique you´re gonna teach me, anyway?"

The old man stood up and pointed at Naruto while saying, "Listen, boy, for the technique I´m going to teach you, the chakra you´ve used up till now is nowhere near powerful enough." He poked the boy in the forehead, causing him to almost lose his balance. "If you wanna use this technique, you have to be able to pull out all the stocks and tap into the other chakra that´s been dormant within you, summoning it up on a moment´s notice."

Recovering his balance, Naruto asked, "Yeah, that´s really cool and all, but how do you even know that I really have that chakra inside of me?"

"Ho-ho! That´s just what I wanted to hear!" Jiraiya smiled. "Actually, it´s because… I am a SAGE!"

"Talk about getting an answer without getting an answer…" Naruto groaned at the man´s silliness.

"Anyway, the special chakra that only you have will become you greatest weapon, I am sure of it."

Naruto looked curiously at the old man. "Greatest weapon? Really?" he asked.

"Yes!" the Toad Sage said and pulled in the boy´s cheeks. "Not using that is like wasting treasure! Look, there´s no need to blindly follow the same training regiment as everyone else, right?" He then let go of him. "Everyone have various strengths and weaknesses, you have your own style. Your training until now has involved maintaining and releasing a set amount of chakra. In other words, it was training you to control the flow of chakra so that you wouldn´t use it all up at once and get exhausted. You have a lot of stamina; you should use your power instead of doing cheap tricks." He sat down again. "You have two types of chakra and don´t exhaust easily, so you should learn to release the largest amount of chakra you can and train yourself so you can increase the total amount of chakra you can use. Once you do that, a whole world of Jutsu will open up to you."

"Seriously…?" Naruto asked, rubbing his sore cheeks. "Like what could I do?"

Jiraiya stood up. "Well, for example, the Summoning Jutsu that I´m going to teach you," he said while looking around. When he saw a small frog sitting on a stone in the spring, he said, "Ah yes, that one´s perfect."

"Summoning?" the boy asked.

"That´s right," the old man said. "It is a teleportation technique in which you sign a contract in blood with all kinds of living creatures and then summon them whenever you like with Ninjutsu."

"That sounds awesome!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. "Teach me right now! C´mon, let´s get going, already!"

"Relax," Jiraiya said. "Before we begin, you´ll have to use up all your usual chakra so just your red chakra remains."

"ALRIIIIIIIIGHT! Naruto roared as he leaped back from the man. He then made a hand-seal and created four clones of himself.

"So, you already know the Shadow Clone Jutsu," the Toad Sage smirked.

"Yeah, and I have a good idea of how I can remove my normal chakra really quickly!" the real Naruto said. He and his clones then created an entire army of clones.

"Well, look at that," the old man said. "And I thought that just one of you was trouble enough."

The real Naruto then ran up so that he was in front of his clones, turned around, and shouted, "Listen up! All of us are gonna have a great, big battle royale! The last one left standing will be the strongest me! We´re going to determine the me among me, get it?" The clones all shouted in agreement.

"Ah, now I see…" Jiraiya muttered. "That´s a pretty clever idea, considering he´s so dumb."

* * *

><p>Hours later, the original Naruto stood victorious on the small battlefield, panting heavily and slightly bruised. "Nicely done!" Jiraiya congratulated, getting a 'thumbs up' in return.<p>

"Sure enough…" Naruto panted. "Just like I thought, I´m the strongest me…" He then fell onto his back in complete exhaustion.

"It seems like, at long last, you´ve finally used up all of your usual chakra," the old man said as he walked up to Naruto. "Now I can teach you the technique!"

"Yeah!" the boy cheered as he sat up. "I´ve been waiting for this all day!"

"Alright, first I´m gonna show you how it´s done." Jiraiya then bit a hole in his right thumb, smeared the blood onto his left palm, and with a great roar of "Summoning Jutsu!" he pressed his left palm into the ground, creating a big puff of smoke and causing the orange toad from earlier to appear out of nowhere!

"Whoa, that is totally awesome!" Naruto marveled. "That may be the coolest thing ever!"

The frog had a big scroll in its mouth, and it used its tongue to give it to the boy. "Go ahead, open that scroll and take a look inside," the Toad Sage said calmly. "It´s a contract with the Summoning Toads that´s been handed down from earlier generations of ninjas. Just sign your name in your own blood and stamp the fingerprints of one hand in blood beneath your signature. Find a place where you want to summon the creature, then build up chakra and press down the hand you used on the contract."

Naruto opened the scroll and saw several columns with names written on them. He saw a vacant column, bit a hole in his right thumb, drew his name in blood, and then touched the other fingers on his right hand with his thumb in order to stamp the fingerprints. "Okay, I´m all done," he said. "What next?"

"After burning off your regular chakra, it should be easier to release the red chakra now, so give it a try."

Naruto stood up, faced a vacant spot on the ground, did the instructed hand-seals, and then pressed his hand into the ground. A small puff of smoke appeared, and once it cleared, there was…

…a pathetically small tadpole. Even the frog that Jiraiya had summoned croaked in an unimpressed manner. _This kid has no talent whatsoever!_ Jiraiya thought in disappointment.

* * *

><p>Back at where Hayate and the sand jonin had fought, a few ANBU agents along with a bunch of circling crows looked at the remains of Hayate Gekko. The proctor was severed from the left shoulder to the right hip, and his blood was splattered all around him!<p>

A female ANBU agent with long purple hair picked up the deceased man´s sword and looked sorrowfully down at him. "Hayate…! What in the world happened to you?" she asked, sobs audible behind her mask.

Now that a murder has taken place, what will Konoha do? Will Naruto be able to master the Summoning Jutsu? What did Kabuto mean when he said 'Gaara´s true form'? And will anyone even be able to defeat the redhead?

* * *

><p>dopliss: Now that we´ve seen two members of Team 6 in action, the third and final member will get his time in the limelight next chapter. But don´t expect it to be a very bright light.<p> 


	39. Chapter 39 Training days

**dopliss: Surprise! Early upload to you guys! Oh, I just LOVE having vacations!**

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto-sama is the proud owner of Naruto.**

* * *

><p>It was once again a beautiful day. Outside of Konoha, young women were once again having fun in the wild springs, splashing water on each other, blissfully unaware of the perverted Toad Sage that was peeking on them through some bushes.<p>

Nearby, Naruto stood cross-armed, dissatisfied with the old man´s behavior. "Hey, Pervy Sage!" he said a little loudly. "Hello! Are you gonna watch me try this Jutsu again or not?"

"Can´t you see I´m _busy_ with my research?" Jiraiya retorted. "Do it yourself!"

"Okay, I will!" the boy growled. "And this time I´m gonna summon a frog the size of a house!" He bit a hole in his thumb, made the hand-seals, and pressed his right hand onto the ground…

…but again, another pathetic tadpole appeared.

"So, how did it go? Did you make a frog appear?" the Toad Sage asked boringly, turning around to look at the tadpole.

"Wait! Give it a second, I think it´s still growing!" Naruto said, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Listen, if you´re not gonna take this seriously, then I´m through with you!" Jiraiya yelled angrily. "Do you understand me?"

"I AM serious! _You´re_ the one who´s staring at the girls, you old goat!"

"Stop fooling around and focus on your chakra as if your life depended on it!"

"What do ya think I´m doing?"

Meanwhile, the women were completely unaware to the two males´ shouting.

* * *

><p>"Some of you may not yet have heard the news," the Hokage said to his jonin and other underlings, having gathered them all at one of the biggest buildings in the village. "The body of Hayate Gekko was found near Kikyo Castle."<p>

Mutterings of shock and grief was heard among the jonin. "This has to be Orochimaru´s doing…" Anko growled.

"As likely as that may seem, Let´s not jump to conclusions yet," Kakashi, who sat beside her, said calmly. "We think Hayate was on the trail of a sound village spy named Kabuto. No doubt Orochimaru´s up to something, and we don´t know for sure, but-"

"I say cancel the Chunin Exams and go after Orochimaru," a brown-haired jonin proposed, interrupting Kakashi.

"No, I think not," the Hokage denied. "He revealed himself to Anko and sent a warning _not _to cancel the exams. You see, these exams have brought together ninjas from every allied nation."

There were two people sitting next to the village ruler. On his left was an old lady; on his right was an old man. "What do you think it means?" the latter of the two seniors asked.

"There are two things we know about him: that he bears an abiding grudge against our village, and that his power is great. Perhaps great enough to crush our village on his own." The Hokage smiled slyly. "Certainly great enough that any village would prefer to have him on their side, rather than against him."

"Impossible!" the brown-haired jonin exclaimed. "No village in the alliance would betray another and join forces with that fiend!"

"Well, the alliance treaty is only as binding as any verbal agreement," Kakashi stated, "as we found out during the last Great Ninja War."

"In any case," the Hokage continued, "until we are able to find out more, this is all just idle speculation."

"We´ve dispatched ANBU black ops to every village to collect information," the old lady at the Hokage´s left said. "We would be foolish to act too hastily – that might be just what our enemy is aiming for."

"And besides," the Hokage continued with a smile, "I have complete trust in every one of you. When and if the time comes, we will gather the strength of Konoha, and fight if we must."

* * *

><p>Sakura walked through the streets, dwelling in worry. She had been denied to see Sasuke at the hospital, and now she doubted if allowing him to continue in the Chunin Exams was a good idea. When she walked past Yamanaka Flower Shop, she stopped and got an idea. "That´s right, I should bring him flowers," she thought aloud as she walked into the store.<p>

Inside of the shop, she could see several different types of flowers, such as roses and daffodils. But to her displeasure, the one behind the counter was none other than her blonde rival. "Oh, Sakura, you poor thing," Ino falsely sympathized. "It´s sad when a girl has to buy flowers for herself."

"I´m not," the pink-haired girl said. "I´m, uh… Not that it´s any of your busyness. I didn´t expect to find _you _minding the shop." She walked over to a box of flowers. _I´ll make this quick._

The blonde walked over to her rival and hovered over her. "Taking a plant to the hospital is like expecting the person to be there forever," she stated. "Single flowers might be a better idea."

At the mention of the hospital, Sakura´s face turned pink. "Err… hospital? What do you mean?" she asked, trying to look like she had no intentions at all.

"Don´t play dumb with me." Ino stood up straight. "You´re going there to visit Sasuke, aren´t you?" Noticing that Sakura´s face had the same color as her hair, the blonde could not help but to smirk at the sight. "Hey, Mom, I´m going out for a while!" she called to the person in the back room.

"Wait, what´re you doing?" Sakura asked, standing up.

"Get real! If you think I´m gonna let you be the first one to get in to see Sasuke, you… are… so… wrong!" Ino said, smirking wider when she saw her rival scowl at her. "I think I´ll bring him one red rose," she said, picking up the flower of her choice. "It´s the flower of love."

"How lame can you get?" Sakura calmly asked, picking up her flower of choice. "I´m gonna bring him a single daffodil. A noble flower that bravely endures the long moths of winter, then blossoms forth as a sign of spring…" _Just like you will blossom soon, Sasuke._

"What are you, a botanist all of a sudden?" the blonde asked angrily.

"I warned you! I will not lose to you!" the pink-haired girl growled back.

"Whatever. So, are you gonna pay for that daffodil?"

Snapping out of her anger, Sakura picked up another flower. "I should get two," she said.

"Two? Why?" Ino asked. "Are you trying to impress him or something?"

The pink-haired girl looked at her rival calmly. "One for him… and another for Lee," she replied.

The two girls paid for the flowers and walked onwards to the hospital. On their way, they passed a BBQ grill bar, and there they heard a loud voice screaming, "WAITER! MORE!"

Inside of the bar were Choji, Shikamaru and Asuma, the former of the two boys busy eating a lot of food like there was no tomorrow. "Man, you can put me off of food for good," the lazy boy groaned. "Just watching you makes me sick."

"Sir, did you order these ribs?" a waiter asked Choji.

"Ah, finally!" the big boned boy said as the food got placed in front of him. "It´s AAALLL mine, Shikamaru! Don´t try stealing any!"

"Don´t worry, I wasn´t planning on it," Shikamaru said.

The two girls had walked over to an open window near the rest of Ino´s team. "What the heck are you guys doing?" the blonde asked. "Shikamaru, shouldn´t you be training for the final exam instead of sitting around?"

"I _have_ been training," the lazy boy replied, "all day, every day. Asuma has got me working like a dog."

The teacher of Team 10 laughed heartily. "And it´s not only Shikamaru, Choji has joined us for training as well," he said.

The blonde looked at her big boned teammate. "So you´re going for it after all, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I can get all the BBQ I can eat!" Choji said with food in his mouth.

"Well, that would explain it."

"Ah man, I wish I never signed up for this stupid final exam…" Shikamaru groaned.

"I don´t wanna hear it," Asuma said sternly. "Plenty of people would give their right arm to be a part of it."

"Yeah, your sensei´s right!" Sakura agreed.

"And besides, from everything I´ve heard, Guy and Kurenai´s teams are training their butts off."

"Yeah?" the lazy boy asked with an eyebrow raised. "What about it?"

"After coming this far, you don´t want them to make me look bad, do you?" Asuma asked, smirking at the boy.

"Man, this is such a drag…" Shikamaru sighed.

* * *

><p>Out in the woods, Neji and Tenten have both been training, the latter of the two panting in exhaustion. "I can´t keep this up… no human being could…" she panted.<p>

"Think I´ve used too much chakra…" Neji said, before collapsing.

"Neji! Are you alright?" she asked in shock.

* * *

><p>Team 8 was also busy with training. At this moment, Kiba and Kurenai were running towards Shino, kunai at the ready. The silent boy let some of his insects crawl out of his sleeves, and they somehow moved like flames in his hands. Standing behind a tree, Hinata watched shyly.<p>

* * *

><p>Somewhere inside of the village, Konran was busy training by himself. He sent several fists flying at a punching bag, sending it swinging more backwards for each hit. He then made several back-flips and then stopped when he was upside-down, standing on his hands. As his t-shirt almost fell over his head, showing his small muscles, he made push-ups with his arms.<p>

_I wonder if this is enough,_ he thought. _The first opponent I am going up against is the one who uses puppets, so it is like facing two opponents at once. Sure, I can use my Jutsus against him and win easily, but if I do, questions will be asked. And if I am to tell the others about my hidden powers, it will result in them asking about my past, and then who knows how they will respond? I just got to use Taijutsu for now._

Just then, the sound of giggling could be heard in his ears. He got back up on his feet and looked in the direction of the giggling. "Alright, you can come out now," he sighed.

Once that was said, a few young girls showed themselves from behind a wall. "Sorry about disturbing your training, Konran," one of them apologized.

"This is the third time you are peeking on me while I am training," he stated, tapping his left foot on the ground. "Do you not have something else to do rather than being my fan club?"

"We just like to see you train," another of the girls said with a pinkish tint on her cheeks.

"Especially when your shirt almost fell off," a third one giggled.

He then got an idea. "Oh, really?" he asked. "So, you like to see this?" He then slowly took off his t-shirt, putting on a show for the girls.

"Wow… If only I had a camera…" one of the girls blushed.

"Do you want to see more?" he asked, getting several nods in response. "Well… too bad." He then threw a smoke bomb down on the ground, and when the smoke cleared, he was gone.

"Aw~, why´d he have to leave?" one of the girls pouted.

"Let´s find him!" another of them declared.

"First I need to get my parents´ camera!"

* * *

><p>"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and pressed his right hand against the ground, summoning yet another tadpole.<p>

"NOOOO! AGAIN WITH THE TADPOLES!" Jiraiya shouted in annoyance. "This is ridiculous! We´re not getting anywhere!"

"Look!" the boy said, pointing at the tadpole. "Can´t you see it? This one´s bigger than the last one!"

"WHO CARES? IT´S STILL A TADPOLE!"

And the women were still unaware.

* * *

><p>Sakura and Ino have arrived at the hospital. "So you´re here to see Sasuke Uchiha?" a nurse asked as she led the girls to Sasuke´s room. "Please keep in mind that he´s still very weak. He needs his rest. You´ll have to keep your visit short. Five minutes, that´s all I can give you."<p>

"Alright," the two girls agreed as they stopped in front of their crush´s room.

The nurse knocked on the door. "Sasuke, may I come in?" she asked and opened the door. "You have a couple of pretty visitors here."

But when the three of them entered, they found the room to be empty. The way that the blanket on the bed was positioned indicated that he had stood up and walked away himself. The nurse checked the closet and found nothing inside it. "All of his clothes are gone!" she gasped. "This is terrible! He is in no condition to be walking around on his own!" She then ran out of the room, calling for a doctor.

Sakura and Ino remained in the room, the former of them worried over what Orochimaru had told her.

"_At some point, he will come to me in search of power._"

_Oh, Sasuke… where have you gone?_ Sakura asked in thought.

* * *

><p>At a rocky area that was miles away from Konoha, Kakashi was having difficulty in climbing one of the small mountains with his left hand on his back. "Why is this so much harder than it used to be?" he asked himself through gritted teeth. "Must be getting out of shape… Time´s almost up…"<p>

One of the rocks that he used as a foothold then crumpled, causing him to lose his balance and only remain hanging by his right hand. With no other way to climb further without using his left hand, he concentrated and opened the first of the Eight Inner Gates, and then he catapulted himself up so that he was near the top.

Once he had climbed the mountain, he was greeted by the young Uchiha boy. "What´s up?" Sasuke asked.

"So you finally showed up," the jonin greeted back.

* * *

><p>Sitting at a bench in the hospital, both Sakura and Ino sighed in disappointment over the fact that Sasuke was gone. The same nurse that had led them to Sasuke´s room approached them and said, "Well, we´ll keep on searching for him here at the hospital. But in the meantime, if you see him, please contact us immediately, will you?"<p>

"Yes, of course," both of the girls said at once.

"Now, you wanted to see Rock Lee as well, right?" Upon seeing the two nodding, the nurse said, "He´s in no better condition than Sasuke, so don´t expect to have a very long visit."

What followed next was very alike to what had happened before. They got to the room, the nurse said the same thing as before, they entered, and the room was empty. "Oh no, not Lee, too!" the nurse gasped.

"Look!" Sakura said, pointing out of the window in the room. Viewable from that window was Lee, who was down on the ground, doing push-ups. The boy had his left arm and leg in a cast, but that did not stop him. The nurse and the two girls ran out of the building to check on the boy.

"200 push-ups… that was the deal…" Lee panted to himself. "If you cannot finish them, then it´s 100 squats, so come on…! Here we go…!" He struggled to do another push-up. "190…!"

"Lee! You shouldn´t be out of bed!" the nurse said to the boy once she and the other girls have run up to him. "Stop it! What do you think you´re doing?"

"191…!" Lee counted, ignoring the nurse as he kept going.

"Lee!" the nurse said, putting a hand on the boy´s shoulder.

"Keep away from me!" he snapped, causing the nurse to back away. "Please… got to… finish my training…!"

Sakura could only watch in pity. Before they had left the flower shop, Ino had told her that Lee could never become a ninja due to his severe injuries. And the sadness of it only increased when she recalled to how the boy had proven his determination in combat.

Lee struggled harder as he became weaker. But the determination of not getting proven inferior to Sasuke, Neji, Gaara and Naruto kept him going. "Do not count me out…! I am not through yet…!" he panted after his 198th push-up. "1…9…9…! Just… one more…!" He then gave a weak scream and collapsed on the ground, out of energy.

"I´ll get someone to bring a stretcher," the nurse said and ran off. "Stay with him until then!"

The two girls sat on their knees down next to the unconscious boy, the pink-haired one looking depressingly at the casts. "Why…? Why, Ino?" she asked. "What is it that makes boys like that? They´re always pushing things too far…"

The blonde just kept looking at the boy. "…Why ask me…? I´m not a boy…" she replied.

"Right… Sorry…"

Later that evening, Lee woke up in his hospital room. And on the stand next to him, a single daffodil was in a vase…

* * *

><p>The women long gone home, Jiraiya yawned and stretched his arms and legs. "What a bore," he said. "It´s obvious that out friends in swimsuits aren´t coming back, so how about calling it a day, Naruto?"<p>

"But you´re supposed to be training me!" the boy complained. "C´mon, please, one more time, okay?"

"I´m tired and I´m hungry," the Toad Sage said as he began walking. "We´ve been out here half a day."

"But you haven´t done anything!" the boy growled.

"YOU LITTLE SQUIRT! YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL I´M EVEN HANGING OUT WITH YOU!" Jiraiya exploded.

_Yikes! Man, this old coot´s touchy!_ Naruto thought in shock. "Okay, wait, I know what you need." He made a hand-seal. "Sexy-Jutsu!" Having transformed, Naruto had managed to turn his teacher´s mood upside-down. After a few seconds, he transformed back to normal.

"Wait, that´s it?" the old man asked in disappointment. "That wasn´t very long."

"Hey, I´ve already gotten that Jutsu down, okay?" the boy complained. "It´s the Summoning Jutsu I wanna work on!"

"Okay, go ahead," the Toad Sage said, sitting down. "Give it another shot."

Naruto tried again, and another tadpole appeared. "Victory!" he roared in triumph.

"HOPELESS! WHY DO I WASTE MY TIME WITH YOU?" Jiraiya shouted in annoyance.

"What, are you blind?" the boy asked, pointing at the tadpole to show that it had hind legs. "You see? This one´s got legs!"

The old man, however, was not any less annoyed. "Great, now just give it two arms and a brain, and maybe I can train _it_!"

"Why do you have to be so negative? You gotta admit, at least I´m making progress!"

* * *

><p>It was now night time. Out in the forest, Konran sat on the ground, resting up from all of the training that he went through. Around him were several kunai and shuriken that were stuck in trees. "I made a lot of progress today," he said to himself. "If I continue like this, then maybe I can manage at the finals without using any of my Jutsus."<p>

"Now, why would you avoid using them? You know how powerful they are."

The boy froze upon hearing the voice. _No…! No way! It can´t be him!_ He stood up and looked around. "Where are you? I know that you are here!"

"My, such an unwelcome attitude… And even after being separate for almost ten years."

Konran quickly took one of the kunai in the trees and held it in front of him with his right arm. "Be gone! I never want to see you again!" he shouted warningly.

The boy then felt someone behind him and got his left arm restrained with one hand while covering his mouth with the other. "It´s been so long, hasn´t it, Konran?" the person asked.

The boy broke free and turned around to face none other than the sannin. "Not long enough… Orochimaru!" he hissed.

The snake-man grinned maliciously at the boy. "You look different from back then," he said. "You´ve grown taller and more mature in our separate years, yet I know that you´re still the same as ever."

"You are wrong!" Konran shouted in a manner that was very unlike him. "I know what I did back then, but I had no other choice!"

"Ah, yes…" Orochimaru put a hand on his chin and stood in a thoughtful stance. "You probably couldn´t have done it without _his _help." He locked his amber eyes on the boy. "Do you remember him and how much he helped you?"

"I wish I did not…" Konran looked down at the ground. "I wish I never had been born…"

"Now, why would you say that? Is it guilt? Do you regret what you did?" Each question that Orochimaru brought up was asked in a teasing manner. The man smiled viciously and said, "Imagine what would happen if I told your tailed friend about what you did. What do you think his response would be?"

Konran tightened his grip on the kunai. "Nothing…" he answered.

Tilting his head, the man asked, "And why do you think that?"

The boy glared at Orochimaru with a scowl. "Because dead men tell no tales!" he shouted and rushed towards the man, who grabbed his right arm when he tried to stab him.

Orochimaru´s smile became wider as he wrestled the kunai out of the boy´s hand and used it to stab him in the stomach! Konran screamed in pain as he was thrown onto his back. "Keep it in – it´ll keep you from bleeding… too much," the man said sadistically.

The boy struggled to stand back up. Coupled with the fact that he was exhausted from the training, the wound he had just gotten had rid him of more energy. "You… will not get away with this!" he hissed.

"Oh, I believe I will," Orochimaru grinned. "And you will end up like Sasuke eventually will: serving under me."

"I will be damned before that will happen!"

"Don´t be stupid, Konran. After all, as long as I got _him _on my side, I can make anyone join me and do my bidding. You know very well how much of a _persuasive_ person he is."

Konran took out the kunai in his stomach, letting more blood flow, and glared at the man. "You… will NOT do anything to anyone!" he swore.

"Why not use your Jutsus against me? It would at least have made you somewhat of a threat to me."

"And be a coward by using the techniques that I learned from you? No way!"

Konran charged towards Orochimaru again, the latter having a killing tint in his eyes.

* * *

><p>Sairento sat in her room, stretching her arms after a day full of hard training. <em>The Jutsu is halfway to its full extend,<em> she thought. _A few more days should do it… I hope._

She then heard a small sound and saw that her window was cracking. She opened it and looked down, seeing someone barely standing down on the street. She exited her room and got out of her house. "Who are you?" she asked, ready to attack if it was an assassin.

"…Sai…rento…" the person said. He walked forward to reveal himself as Konran, who had several cuts across his body and his stomach had been cut open, the entrails being kept in by his bloody left hand!

"Konran! What happened to you?" she gasped in horror.

"…Help… me… I am… dying…" he said and slowly collapsed on the ground.

She quickly rushed to his side and knelt down before him. "Konran! Don´t you dare die!" She picked him up and quickly ran towards the hospital. "Anyone! Please help!" she called whilst running.

Has Sasuke truly recovered? What training will he and Kakashi go through? Will Naruto master the Summoning Jutsu? And most importantly, will Konran survive his encounter with Orochimaru?

* * *

><p>dopliss: Too bad with what happened to Konran, but don´t worry, he´ll survive. As for me, I´m gonna enjoy the rest of my Easter.<p> 


	40. Chapter 40 Summoning success

**dopliss: Forty chapter anniversary! (blows noise-maker) And, as an extra treat to you, this chapter will be longer than the last ones!**

**Disclaimer: I only own this story, so let the anniversary commence!**

* * *

><p>At a mountainside outside of Konoha, Fukigen glared down one of the sides, his expression as stern as always. "You´re taking a lot of time, boy," he said coolly.<p>

A hand then reached and grabbed hold of the edge. Following it was the rest of Torabu´s body, the boy sweating madly and panting hard. "Well, I would´ve climbed this thing sooner if you didn´t force me to carry a weight!" he complained.

Indeed, a rope was bound tightly around the cat-boy´s waist, a boulder tied to the other end. "How else do you think I could improve your speed and strength?" the cat asked.

"Something of smaller size could help," the troublemaking ninja growled.

The Bakeneko looked in its right paw – at the small stopwatch, more specifically. "Hmm… three hours," he announced, looking back at his student. "Try to improve that."

"WHAT?" Torabu shouted angrily. "You can´t be serious! You really want me to climb this thing with a boulder attached to me? _Again_?"

"Glad to see you understand."

Once that was said, Fukigen knocked the boy off of the edge, the troublemaking ninja screaming in horror as he was quickly pulled to the ground.

"I´ll go search for some food to myself! You just continue climbing!" the Bakeneko shouted over the loud crash that sounded from the boy´s fall. Once that was said, he left off in his search.

Down on the ground, Torabu lay on his back on the boulder, curved in an uncomfortable position. "I´m gonna… kill that… damn cat…!" he growled as he winced repeatedly, a very angry scowl on his face.

* * *

><p>Just like the other two days before, Naruto was busy with practicing the Summoning Jutsu, while Jiraiya was busy doing his 'research'. The boy tried again, and this time he summoned a tadpole with all four legs, making it look like a green frog, but it still had its tail.<p>

"What the heck´s the difference between a frog and a tadpole, anyway?" the boy yelled in frustration.

The Toad Sage ignored the boy and kept on giggling perversely at the sight of the young women.

Annoyed once again by the old man´s antics, Naruto shouted, "Look, Pervy Sage, can´t you _act _like you believe in me?"

Completely out of energy, the orange-clad boy then fainted and landed on his back. "He collapses again…" Jiraiya sighed as he stood up and walked over to the boy. _But I suppose it´s no surprise. For three weeks now, he´s been getting through his training on guts and determination alone._ He then looked long and hard on the boy, an idea entering his mind.

In the nearby bushes, Fukigen glanced with wide eyes at what he had witnessed. _The Summoning Jutsu? _he thought in shock. _Is that idiot really teaching him that? _He narrowed his eyes and looked down at the dead cobra in his paw. _Well, two of us can play that game, Jiraiya._ He then picked the serpent up and bit its head off. Chewing his meal, he leapt off and away from the place.

* * *

><p>At a chamber in the Hokage´s house, the village leader and Anko was having a private meeting. Adorning the back wall of the chamber were four pictures, each of them being the four Hokages that have ruled Konoha. The old man smiled warmly at the picture of the deceased Fourth Hokage.<p>

"Lord Hokage…" Anko started, gaining the village leader´s full attention. "I´m sorry… but I´m-"

"What, are you guilty that you returned alive from the Forest of Death?" the Hokage guessed. "There is no need for that. After all, you no longer have any connection with Orochimaru." The female looked down at the floor with sadness all over her face. "There is no ninja alive to date in Konoha who could ever hope to defeat him. I myself probably wouldn´t be his equal."

"I wish… the Fourth Hokage was still alive," she sorrowfully said.

"You shouldn´t say such things. It´s only because he died and sacrificed himself that our land was saved." The old man looked back up at the picture of the Fourth Hokage. "Besides, that´s all in the past – it´s a story from thirteen years ago," he stated. "He´s gone, and we can´t change that. We must do what we can with what we have."

"Yes, sir," Anko nodded.

The old man stood up and faced the door. "Very well, I´m going out to get some fresh air." He walked towards the door, and stopped in front of it. "And Anko, don´t blame yourself." He then exited the room.

* * *

><p>"C´mon, open your eyes already!" Jiraiya shouted as he threw a bucket of water at the orange-clad boy.<p>

Naruto instantly woke up, bolted up in a sitting position, and shook himself dry. "Hey, what was that for?" he asked.

The old man, who sat directly behind the boy, smirked. "Oh, that? To knock sense into you, since you had none," he remarked.

"_I _don´t?" the boy asked, offended. "Look at you!"

"You´ve been training for three weeks, and you´re still at _this _level?" the Toad Sage asked tauntingly. "If you continue like this, it´s pointless."

Naruto was angered by that remark. "Hey, that´s not true!" he snapped. "Gimme a break, I´m trying as hard as I can here!"

"Maybe you are, maybe you´re not," Jiraiya said, his smirk not fading in the slightest. "If you want to succeed at the Summoning Jutsu, then you must do it like your life depends on it."

The orange-clad boy stood up and shouted, "What do you think I´ve been doing? I train every day like I´m gonna die! If you got time to complain about it, teach me a trick to do it!"

The old man glanced at the side, scratching his head. "A trick?" he asked. "Well, I don´t know…"

The boy was slightly startled. "What? You´re not gonna teach me?" he asked.

The Toad Sage looked at Naruto with a serious expression. "You need to put your life at risk," he said.

"My… life?" the boy asked in confusion.

"That´s right, it´s no joke," Jiraiya affirmed. "Even so, are you willing to do it?"

"Of course, I always risk my life!" Naruto answered with determination in his eyes. "There´s no point in anything if you don´t go all the way!"

"…I see…" the old man muttered, standing up. "Alright, follow me." He then turned around and began walking.

Naruto swallowed as he followed, uncertain of his fate.

* * *

><p>At the top of the mountainside, Torabu sat up against the rocky side, his rope leading upwards and a big smirk on his face. <em>Once the cat returns, he´s toast!<em> he thought.

As if on cue, Fukigen appeared right in front of the boy. "I see you´re still alive," he said and looked around. "Where´s your rock?"

"Right here!" the cat-boy said and pulled in the rope, causing the boulder to fall towards the feline sensei.

The cat looked up at the incoming object in a bored manner. _Does he really think he can surprise me?_ he asked in thought. _Thanks to that seal I added on his back, I´m able to connect to his optic nerves and hearing, therefore being able to see whatever he´s seeing and hear whatever he´s hearing._

When the boulder was close enough, Fukigen blocked it with the tip of his walking stick, stopping its fall instantly! As Torabu stared in awe, mouth agape, he was taken by complete surprise when the cat sent the rock sailing in his direction, pushing him against the mountainside.

"Stop fooling around, boy!" the Bakeneko hissed boringly. "I´m about to teach you something valuable, so focus your weak mind!"

"…Um… little help…?" the boy muttered from behind the boulder.

The cat rolled his eyes while groaning in annoyance and slammed his stick into the rock, smashing it instantly. "_Now_ will you listen to me?" he asked impatiently.

A little while later, after having been explained about the Summoning Jutsu, Torabu asked, "So, this technique will allow me to summon anything I´ve made a 'contract' with…" He made quotation marks with his fingers. "…by writing my name in blood?"

Fukigen nodded and produced a relatively big scroll from out of nowhere. "Yes, and this is the contract," he affirmed.

The cat-boy scratched his head. "So, what will I summon?"

The Bakeneko looked at the scroll with a slight smirk. "Ah, this scroll is a contract with the infamous Element Tigers," he said.

The troublemaking ninja tilted his head in confusion. "You´ve lost me," he said.

"The Elemental Tigers are a family line of powerful jungle cats that, for each generation passed, have mystical powers over one of the natural elements. Fire, water, air, earth – you name it."

Torabu nodded. "So, you want me to summon one of those tigers as an assistant?" he assumed.

The cat nodded. "Indeed, so let´s get down to business, shall we?"

After signing his name in the contract and using his right fingerprints to sign, the cat-boy took a few steps away from his sensei and made the hand-seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" he shouted and pressed his right palm against the ground.

What appeared when the smoke cleared was not a tiger, but instead a small kitten with tiger-patterned fur. It mewled as it looked innocently at the two.

After a few seconds of complete silence, Fukigen whacked loose on Torabu´s skull. "That´s not even a tiger, you twit!" he shouted angrily.

"OW! OW! OW! OW!" the troublemaking ninja exclaimed every time he was hit with the stick.

"Try again, and be serious this time!" the cat ordered. He then calmed down and looked at the kitten, which was busy rubbing its head against his leg whilst purring. "But first, get this girl a home."

* * *

><p>Naruto had been confused ever since he followed Jiraiya back into town. Apparently, the old man had taken the boy to a trip in the hot springs, and then to Ichiraku Ramen for a huge meal. Even though he enjoyed it, Naruto was enraged by how the Toad Sage had left him to pay the bill by himself. When he had caught up with the old man, he was planning to scold him like there was no tomorrow.<p>

But before that had happened, Jiraiya had asked a question: "Say, Naruto, is there a girl that you like? You know, someone close to you?"

The orange-clad boy was taken aback by the question, but blushed and twiddled his index fingers together. "Well, I don´t know," he muttered. "I mean, kinda, sorta… I guess you can say I like her."

"Oh? Who is it?" the old man asked curiously.

Completely off guard, Naruto panicky screamed, "NO ONE! JUST SAKURA!"

"Okay, let´s go see her!" the Toad Sage exclaimed, pointing at the boy. "Because you´re gonna give her… a big hug!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAT?" Naruto was completely shocked by that statement. "This is part of my training?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, it´s close enough."

"YES! Let´s go!" the boy exclaimed cheerfully, but then turned slightly scared. "…But, if I do hug her, Sakura will…" He then turned courageous again. "No! This is part of my training! I have to do it! I have to be strong!" He turned somber again. "…But I´ll also be black and blue… and Sakura wouldn´t wanna talk to me for a while…" His determination returned. "But still! If I wanna learn to do the Summoning Jutsu right, then this can´t be helped!" And back to depression again. "But… Sakura´s gonna…" And his moods kept changing.

"Just go, already!" Jiraiya groaned and kicked the boy into action.

A little later, at some of the other streets in the village, Naruto had found Sakura and was currently engaging in a conversation with her. "Okay, so what do you want?" she asked.

"Um… well… you see…" Naruto muttered, nervously twiddling his index fingers together.

"Look, if it´s money you want, you can just forget it," she stated, closing her eyes. "I´m not giving you any."

"No, that´s not it!" he nervously replied, his cheeks pink. "It´s just… I… um…" _Oh man, how can I say this? If I say it´s for my training, I´ll get wailed on, for sure!_

Growing impatient, Sakura looked at her teammate and said, "If it´s nothing, then I´m going home." Once that was said, she started walking away.

"No! Wait!"

Naruto grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled, unintentionally pulling her off of her feet and sending her falling towards him. Seeing the chance, he spread out his arms and would use the excuse of catching her to break her fall.

And it could have worked if Sakura had not regained her balance. "What do you think you´re doing?" she asked angrily when she saw his outspread arms. "Back off!" And with those two words, she punched him in the face so hard that he was almost knocked out. "Cha!" she exclaimed as she angrily stormed off, rubbing her fist.

Jiraiya poked his head out from behind a fence, whistling as he saw the display of violence. "Oh well, young love…" he sighed.

Sakura walked onwards, trying her hardest to calm down. Once completely calm, she spotted the masked member of Team 6 leaning on a wooden fence. "Hey, Sairento!" she greeted politely. "How are you doing?"

The mute girl just looked down at the ground in silence.

The pink-haired girl stopped when she was at the other girl and looked questionably at her. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"…No…" Sairento answered depressingly.

"Why not?" Sakura asked, tilting her head. After getting no response, she said, "If you don´t wanna talk about it, I won´t ask you any further."

The mute girl looked long and hard at the ground, remembering what one of the nurses had told her after having brought Konran to the hospital: "_I apologize, but his condition is incredibly critical. We´re currently doing our best at keeping him alive, and we couldn´t have done it without your healing powers. If you would come here regularly, we´d be really grateful – your friend too, I believe._"

Sairento tightened her fists, her nails digging into her palms. _Whoever you are, you will pay for hurting my friend…!_ she swore in her mind.

"Hey there, you two!"

Both of the girls turned towards the source of the new voice and saw Torabu, walking up to them with his hands behind his back. "So, what´re you doing?" he asked, curious.

"Oh, just hanging around," Sakura replied. She then saw a little thing move behind the cat-boy, other than his tail, and asked, "What do you got there?"

"Oh! Well…" The troublemaking ninja tilted his head to both sides, before showing the two girls the kitten he had accidentally summoned.

Sairento straightened up and looked at the small feline, a small gasp escaping her lips. _That´s so… so…!_

"Aw~, it so cute!" Sakura squealed as she petted the feline on its head, getting a purr in response.

"Yeah, I found this little girl out in the forest," Torabu lied, not wanting to tell them about the Summoning Jutsu. "And I was wondering if you could take her in?"

The pink-haired girl shook her head as her smile faded. "Sorry, but my mom don´t allow pets in my house."

He then looked at her teammate. "Well, how about you, Sai-?"

"YES!"

The troublemaking ninja and Sakura looked in shock at the mute girl, surprised over her sudden outburst. Sairento then steadied herself and said, "I mean, um… yes… sure… why not."

"Ooooo…kay?" Torabu said with a raised eyebrow. He then shrugged it off and gave her the kitten, the feline practically leaping into her arms. "Welp, I´ll be off, then. See ya!" And with that, he was gone.

"You´re so lucky, Sai," Sakura smiled as she petted the kitten.

The mute girl looked happily down at the purring feline, which was snuggling up to her. "I´m gonna call you Ranko," she decided. _I need the company from you more than you know. Thanks for giving her to me, Torabu._

* * *

><p>Naruto awoke at an unknown location in the forest. He was still a little groggy after getting knocked out by Sakura. He saw Jiraiya standing over him and asked, "Where… where are we?"<p>

"Stand up!" the old man ordered.

Confused at the old pervert´s strangely serious tone, Naruto did as commanded and asked, "What´s going on?"

"Your training ends right here," the Toad Sage informed.

Completely angered by that statement, the boy countered with, "But I haven´t done anything yet!"

"Starting now, you must stare death in the face."

The orange-clad boy was taken aback by that statement. "D-Death?" he asked.

"That´s right," Jiraiya nodded. "To stave off the horror of death, you must release enormous chakra. Once you experience that, you´ll understand how to release the red chakra. If you don´t wish to die, do something about it. Now!"

Without warning, the old man pushed Naruto so that he was sent flying through some bushes. And when he emerged at the other side, he fell into a huge gorge of spiky rocks! The boy screamed as he was plummeting down in the abyss. In a desperate move, he tried to use his chakra control to grab hold of one of the rocks at the side, but they were too slippery to grab on to.

_If I go on like this, I really AM gonna die!_ Naruto thought in fear.

* * *

><p>Back in the village, Iruka had taken his students to a peak where they could perfectly see the Hokage Stone Faces. "Today´s history class, we´ll be outside," he explained to his students. "As you are all aware, on this stone are the sculptures of the Hokages. They are, in order from the left, the First, the Second, the Third, and the Fourth. You probably could´ve figured that out."<p>

Amongst the students was Konohamaru, who giggled quietly to himself. _The old man sure looks different up there than he does now!_ he thought in amusement, thinking of his grandfather. _I mean, he used to have hair!_

"Iruka-sensei!" one of the students called. "So, who´s the Fifth Hokage?"

The man smirked widely at the children. "That hasn´t been decided yet," he said. He then pointed at himself with his thumb, smiled widely, and laughed, "Maybe it´ll be your favorite teacher!"

A humorous chuckle was then heard as the Hokage walked by the class. "So, working in an occasional joke to make for an engaging history lesion, eh, Iruka?" he laughed.

Instantly, the teacher stopped laughing and saluted the village leader. "L-Lord Hokage!" he slightly gasped, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"Whoa! It´s the Third!" one of the students marveled.

"Hey, old man, what are you doing here?" Konohamaru disrespectfully asked, pointing at his grandfather.

"I just wanted to look at the mountainside images, like you students are doing," the old man smiled.

"Well, you´ve come at a great time," Iruka said, signaling to the spot next to him. "Would you care to join me?"

"Why not," the Hokage said as he walked over to where Iruka was gesturing to.

"This is the man whose likeness is carved up there on the mountain," the teacher said. "He´s the great Third Hokage! The Third Hokage was called the strongest, and even considered a genius. He was also called 'Professor'."

As the children marveled, the old man said to Iruka, "I am still here – talk about me in present tense."

"Of course! Sorry!" Iruka apologized.

"Come on, are you really strong?" one of the students asked.

"Yeah, ´cause you don´t look it!" another agreed.

_Yeah, THAT´s for sure!_ Konohamaru mentally agreed.

"Hey, stop it!" Iruka scolded. "If you´re granted the title of Hokage, it means only one thing: that you are the strongest in this entire land!"

"Yeah? Then I´m gonna be the Fifth Hokage!" one of the students exclaimed, standing up. "I mean, I´m WAY strong, and handsome too!"

Chuckling and calming down, Iruka stated, "Well, not with the grades you have now," disheartening the student and causing the others to laugh.

"At least you have confidence," the Hokage laughed. "Ah, just look at you – all so young, unlike me. There might even be someone among you who will bear the name of Hokage. Remember, you have just one life, so don´t choose a road that´s impossible – it doesn´t matter what you do if you live and die as you like. However... no matter what route you end up taking, remember to protect the people who are precious to you."

"The people precious to us?" one of the students repeated.

The old man nodded. "That´s right, the ones you appreciate the very most and trust and love with all your heart. Do you have people like that in your life?"

The student blushed slightly. "Yeah, I do. My dad and my mom… and my brother, even though I don´t like him much. Oh yeah! And my dog!"

"I have some, too: my friends!" another student said.

"Me too!" a third student agreed.

The old man smiled warmly at the young children. "So, do you have people like that, too?" another student asked him.

"Yes," the Hokage answered and looked at his grandchild. "For example, I have my grandson, Konohamaru." His smile grew wider. "And I also… have all the people in this village." As the children stared at him in awe, the old man looked at the stone face of the Fourth Hokage. _Just as it was for you… back then…_

* * *

><p><em>Naruto was in a strange place. He was in a hallway with several pipes and wires covering the ceiling, and the floor was flooded with a thin layer of water.<em>

_He then heard a very menacing growling coming from another hallway, and with curiosity getting the better of him, he followed the sound carefully. _This feeling… it´s the red chakra again…_ he thought as he walked onwards._

_When he arrived at the source, he was shocked over the discovery. It was a huge, barred set of doors, with a small paper slip stuck at the direct middle of them. And behind the door was a huge cloud of red chakra with an insane face attached to it, the eyes looking directly at the orange-clad boy._

"_**Come closer… little boy**__," a demonic voice that was coming from the face said. When Naruto walked a little closer, he instantly jumped back when huge claws reached through the bars. "__**I would love to kill and eat you, but this cursed gate confines me. It´s that infuriating sealing spell!**__"_

_Naruto then realized it. "You´re… you´re the… Kyubi…!" he gasped and stood up. _Of course! The red chakra was this guy´s chakra!

"_**Why are you here, foolish boy?**__" the nine-tailed fox asked. "__**What do you want? Or have you simply come to offer yourself to me so I might feast upon your marrow?**__"_

_Growing confident in his own abilities, Naruto narrowed his eyes and said with a smirk, "Alright, look, you stupid fox! You´re in MY body and you owe me rent, so for payment, I´ll take your chakra! You got that?"_

_The fox laughed malevolently at the display of courage, opening his wide mouth. "__**Well, I suppose I can´t kill you, can I?**__" it asked. "__**After all, if you die, I die. Your courage is most impressive, little boy.**__" A red chakra then seeped out of the barred doors and surrounded the orange-clad boy. "__**As a reward for making it this far, I will loan you my chakra!**__"_

* * *

><p>Naruto awoke in the real world, still falling down the gorge. Having all to gain and nothing to lose, he bit a hole in his right thumb and tried one more time.<p>

"SUMMONING JUTSU!" he cried as he thrust his right hand downwards, emitting a huge amount of both blue and red chakra.

And this time, it worked! Appearing and blocking the fall by holding against both sides of the abyss was a giant rusty-red toad with redder markings on its chest, mouth and around the eyes. A big scar ran across its left eye, but it did not seem blinded by it. Its long tongue was pierced with studs on both the upper and lower side. He wore a blue vest, a large sword at his left hip, and a big pipe in his mouth.

Naruto landed on its head and looked it over in awe. "Awesome!" he gasped. "Man, that is humongous!" He then remembered something and crawled over to its backside, seeing no tail at the base of the toad´s spine. "I did it! I didn´t summon another tadpole! I have really summoned a toad!"

Looking down the gorge, Jiraiya chuckled at the sight. _Looks like he released the Kyubi´s chakra all on his own this time,_ he thought. _But still, I certainly can´t say that he´s professional at it yet. He overdid it with the chakra´s power! To have summoned _him _of all things…_

The giant toad shook its body so that Naruto slid onto its brow. "WHAT´RE YOU DOING ON MY HEAD, YOU ASSHOLE?" it shouted in a very deep voice.

"W-What…?" the boy meekly asked, a little scared by the toad´s loudness.

"Finally I get out for some fresh air, and then… What the hell is this?" the toad asked again, narrowing its eyes at the boy. "Where´s Jiraiya, you little shit?"

"J… Jiraiya…?"

"Not only does that old ass summon me here, but he also puts a little snot on my head!"

Nervously, Naruto scratched the back of his head and said, "Err… actually, _I _was the one to summon you here…"

The toad looked at the boy. "You?" it asked.

"Uh-huh."

The amphibian giant burst into laughter. "A little snot like you couldn´t possibly summon me!"

Growing angry by the mocking laughter, Naruto shouted, "Knock it off, you toad-jerk! You´ve been talking down to me ever since you first got here, but I´m the one who summoned you, and that means I´m your master! You better start respecting me and do what I say, you got that, toad?"

The toad stopped laughing and glared at the boy. "Who do you think you´re talking to?" it shouted back. "Dare you say to Gamabunta, the Chief Toad, that you´re his master?"

"Damn, that is funny!" Jiraiya laughed as he walked away. "I better leave those two alone. Besides, I got some 'research' to do."

"Listen, you little snot!" Gamabunta shouted. "If you don´t wanna get dropped down this chasm, you better swear your allegiance to me, UNDERSTAND?"

Being in no position to argue, Naruto saluted and said in a military tone, "Yes, Chief Toad!"

The Chief Toad then grabbed hold of the boy with his tongue, and with one mighty jump, they got out of the gorge and back up on safe ground, Naruto being knocked out on the trip. Up on the surface, Gamabunta spotted the contract that Naruto had signed down on the ground, and then he realized that the boy was not lying.

_Well, well, the little squirt spoke the truth, _he thought with a small smile. _This kid ain't half bad – he´s the first one since the Fourth Hokage to sit on my head. And he´s all beat now._ He chuckled. _Well, he might not need me anymore now, but at least I can do him a small favor._ And with that, Gamabunta left the orange-clad boy outside of the hospital in Konoha.

* * *

><p>Later in the evening, Torabu panted after having summoned all the necessary chakra. "One final time, boy," Fukigen said. "Do it!"<p>

"Summoning Jutsu!" the cat-boy shouted and pressed his palm against the ground again.

It succeeded this time. Appearing before the two was a tiger twice the size as a normal one, with white fur and black stripes, icy-blue eyes, and a mystical white chakra surrounding its paws. "Whoa!" the troublemaking ninja gasped. "Is… is this one of those tigers?"

"Indeed," the Bakeneko nodded. "This is the Element Tiger of the ice: Yukitora!"

The big cat approached Torabu, sniffing him in curiosity. "Uh… hi?" the cat-boy said in uncertainty.

"Yukitora!" the feline sensei said, earning the tiger´s attention. "This boy had summoned you, having written a contract with blood! Both he and I expect your full cooperation!"

The amount of authority in the smaller cat´s voice was enough to convince the Element Tiger. As a sign of loyalty, it gave the boy a lick. "So, does that mean we´re friends now?" he asked.

Upon hearing the tiger purr in response, Fukigen smiled slightly. "With only a few days left, Torabu, there is one final technique I need to teach you," he said. "And this will be a technique that will make you nigh-invulnerable!"

What technique does the feline sensei have in store for the troublemaking ninja? What will happen to Naruto now that Gamabunta had dropped him off at the hospital? And will Sasuke have trained enough with Kakashi?

* * *

><p>dopliss: And this was the forty chapter anniversary! Hope you all enjoyed it!<p>

And by the way, any O. C. beings that are summoned will not get a bio, mostly because they have feral minds.


	41. Chapter 41 Bloodstained past

**dopliss: And here we are, folks – the last chapter before the finals! So be exited for the next chapters. …But also for this one.**

**Disclaimer: If I had one free wish, it would not be for me to be the true owner of Naruto – rather, it would be for unlimited money.**

* * *

><p>At the apartment where the Sand Siblings were staying at, a loud banging on the door disturbed the peace of silence in the neighborhood. "Open up! Now!" the sound of their sensei´s voice commanded.<p>

Puzzled, Temari and Kankuro opened the door to greet their teacher. "So, what´s up? What´s all the ruckus?" the latter of the siblings asked.

The man had anger written all over his face – or the visible parts, at least – as he scolded, "You idiots! Didn´t I tell you not to let him out of your sight for a second?"

Shocked by the sentence, the two siblings quickly raced to their brother´s room, just to find it completely empty. Expressions of pure horror adorned their faces. "Oh no… Gaara´s gone!" Temari said.

"Yeah… but where?" Kankuro asked.

Their sensei walked up to a nearby window and looked out of it with narrowed eyes. "This is bad…!" he muttered. "Very bad!"

* * *

><p><em>Months earlier, in the village hidden in the sand, the Sand Siblings were having a meeting with their sensei. "What… what did you say?" Temari asked, apparently shocked.<em>

"_I´m going to have you three ninjas, the best from the hidden sand village, participate in the upcoming Chunin Exam," the man said. "But the reason that I´m having you do so is not for you to pass the exam… We must use this chance to crush Konoha."_

"_But, Baki-sensei, why?" she asked. "Why are we turning on the leaf village? Didn´t we sign a treaty of alliance with them?"_

_Baki nodded. "Yes, we did. But that treaty is the whole problem."_

"_I don´t get it – what do you mean?" Kankuro asked._

"_You genin aren´t to hear all the details of this, but when the treaty of alliance was signed, that idiot feudal lord who rules us used it as an opportunity to force military cutbacks on our village. He also delegated to Konoha matters that should have been handled by us. And even worse, he significantly cut our village´s budget and slashed the number of ninjas." He narrowed his visible eye. "When the head of our country is weak, we, the arms and legs, suffer. And so, we took the only choice left to us: improve the quality of every ninja to maintain our military strength." He looked at Gaara, who was leaning cross-armed against one of the walls. "And that´s why ninjas like you are created, Gaara."_

_He looked back at the rest of his students. "The Land of Wind´s very existence is in danger. More danger than it's ever been in before. But still, that idiot feudal lord and all his incompetent advisors are too blind to see it. So the Kazekage, who detected this… weakening of the might of the sand village, joined hands with the sound village to show our feudal lord his stupidity… by crushing Konoha and restore our village. This needs to be done to make that idiot aware of the importance of preparing for a crisis!" He slammed his right hand against a nearby wall, knocking down a picture frame that hung above._

_Baki calmed down and continued. "With any more passing, our village will be completely drained of its ability to fight against Konoha. This is our only chance." He looked at Gaara again. "Now, Gaara, this mission depends entirely upon your skills."_

"_Yes…" the redhead replied venomously._

"_This path will certainly lead to war with Konoha."_

_Kankuro and Temari both gulped. "We´ll be… we´ll be going to war again?" the latter asked in shock, looking down with her expression sad. "We spent so much time and sacrificed so much to achieve this alliance. And now… we´re breaking it, so many will die…"_

"_But, Temari…!" Kankuro interjected, not knowing what to say._

"_Harden your heart," Baki coldly said. "This is the will of the Kazekage."_

_Temari´s eyes narrowed as she looked up at the man again. "Lord Kazekage?" she asked._

"_All ninjas are simply tools for fighting," the man stated. "Accept that fact and you´ll see that all the treaty of alliance does is jeopardizing our very existence. This is an A+-ranked mission… make sure you succeed."_

"…_Yes…" she nodded sadly._

* * *

><p>At the hospital, Sairento stood outside of her teammate´s room, a forget-me-not in her left hand. She carefully entered and saw Konran lying in his hospital bed, several gauze and bandages wrapped around his chest and stomach. "Hi," she said as she walked up to his bedside.<p>

He turned his head to look at her. "Hello to you, too," he greeted with a weak smile.

She put the flower in a vase on his nightstand and sat on a chair next to him. "You don´t look any good," she stated. "I don´t think you´ll manage for tomorrow´s finals."

He sat up, and winced while doing so. "We will find out tomorrow," he said.

"I´m worried, Konran…" She looked directly into his eyes. "Your wounds haven´t healed much since you got attacked. Whoever did this to you must´ve had added something extra to his attacks."

The boy looked away from her, a frown on his face. "I did see some purple chakra surround the kunai used against me," he muttered.

She placed her right hand on his left. "Konran… I´m your friend, so you can tell me everything," she said, a hint of pleading in her voice. "Please, tell me who did this to you."

He shook his head. "I cannot let you go after that guy," he said and looked at her mask. "He is far too powerful for you – for anyone – to defeat."

She looked down at her right hand and gave his a friendly squeeze. "So… you´re worried about my safety?" she asked.

He nodded with a smile on his lips and his cheeks slightly pink. "Of course, Sairento, my friend," he said.

"Thanks…"

* * *

><p>"The sand stopped… what´s up with that? Did they forget to wind it or something? What a drag…"<p>

Naruto, dressed in only his T-shirt and boxers, slowly woke up to the sound of the voice. He opened his eyes and saw Shikamaru sitting next to his bed, a Shogi game and a green hourglass next to the lazy boy. The member of Team 10 looked at the orange-clad ninja and smirked. "So, you decided to wake up, huh?" he asked.

Dazed, Naruto asked, "Where am I?"

"The hospital," Shikamaru answered. "They said you´ve been out cold like this for three days straight."

"Three days…?" Once the message passed through his skull, Naruto stoop up in his bed and shouted, "THREE DAYS STRAIGHT?"

The lazy boy was taken aback by the sudden movement. "Uh, yeah… more or less," he confirmed.

"Shikamaru, when does the final competition begin?"

"Uh, tomorrow," Shikamaru answered.

"WHAT?" Naruto grabbed him by the collar and shouted, "Are you crazy? Why the hell didn´t you wake me up sooner? I can´t be lying around here at a time like this! I gotta be getting ready!" He then remembered someone. "And Pervy Sage! Where´s Pervy Sage? That old coot´s supposed to supervise my training!"

"Hey, calm down, kid! Get a grip!" the lazy boy hissed. "I don´t know what you´re talking about!"

The orange-clad boy let go of Shikamaru and began running around in the room like a madman. "Where´re my clothes? I gotta get dressed!" he shouted as he rummaged through everything in the room. "Where did they put ´em?"

"Oh man, this kid gives me headache," the lazy boy groaned as he rubbed his temples. "I liked him a lot better when he was in a coma." Growing annoyed by Naruto´s panicky rummaging, he shouted, "Would you knock it off?" Naruto stopped instantly in his tracks. Calm once again, Shikamaru said, "Now, listen, you don´t wanna be freaking out the day before a competition. Resting can be the best thing."

Naruto was completely silent, which was an odd sight for the lazy boy. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked.

The orange-clad boy turned his head to look at Shikamaru, and a low growling from his stomach was heard. "Yeah… I´m really starving," he said.

Shikamaru sighed. "Is that all? Man, stop scaring me like that." He then reached down under the bed and pulled out a basket packed full of fruit. Placing it on the bed, he said, "I went through all the trouble of getting this for Choji, and then the doctors told me he couldn´t have it. Such a drag, but at least _we_ can eat it."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Is Choji here, too?" he asked.

"Nothing to worry about," the lazy boy shrugged. "All he´s got is a bad case of indigestion. He ate one rib too many."

The orange-clad boy laughed. "That´s just like him."

"Yeah. Well, you two are just lucky I´m around, or you wouldn´t have any visitors."

Naruto picked up an apple, and then he got an idea. "Let´s eat all this in front of Choji," he giggled mischievously.

"Man, that´s mean… I like it."

* * *

><p>Inside of Rock Lee´s room, the boy was still fast asleep. But he was not the only one in the room. Gaara was hovering above his sleeping form, glaring viciously and his head throbbing in pain. He wheezed in pain as he remembered how Guy saved his student from the sand, and also the reasoning for that.<p>

"_Because he´s my student… and also because he´s precious to me._"

Painful memories flashing through his mind, he unplugged his gourd and let the sand swarm around Lee. Panting hard, he held his right hand over the unconscious boy, preparing to kill him. He was ready to strike, but then…

"I can´t move… my body…!" Gaara wheezed.

Luckily for Lee, Naruto and Shikamaru had passed by the room and stopped the redhead before anything bad could happen. Angered, the orange-clad boy delivered a strong punch to Gaara´s face, somehow also causing the lazy boy to feel pain.

"What the hell do you think you´re doing in here, you rat?" Naruto shouted.

"Hey, man, go easy!" Shikamaru scolded Naruto when he recovered. "I´m using my Shadow Possession Jutsu, so when you´re bashing him, you´re bashing me too!"

"Sorry, Shikamaru," the orange-clad boy apologized.

A bit of sand fell on the floor, as the punch had cracked Gaara´s sand armor. Naruto walked over to his friend and demanded, "Out with it! What were you trying to pull?"

"I was going to kill him," the redhead answered coolly, to the shock of the two boys.

_This guy´s one cool customer, _Shikamaru thought. _Look at him. He´s not even fazed by my Jutsu._ Hardening his expression, he said, "You already beat him once in a competition. What´s your problem? Wasn´t that enough for you? Do you have some kind of personal grudge against him or something?"

"I have nothing against him…" Gaara responded. "It´s nothing that complicated – I simply wanna kill him, that´s all."

"You know what, you´re sick in the head!" Naruto shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the redhead. "You´re crazy!"

"Yeah!" Shikamaru agreed. "You think we´re gonna just stand by and let you do whatever you want, you sick, selfish psycho?" In his thoughts, the lazy boy was terrified about what Gaara might do.

"If you don´t stay out of my way, I´ll have to kill you as well," the redhead threatened.

"Oh, really?" Naruto shouted, getting into a fighting stance. "Let´s just see you try it!"

"Whoa, kid! Take it easy!" Shikamaru ordered. _Best thing to do is trying to bluff our way outta this._ He then said to Gaara, "Yeah, yeah, we know you´re tough. But, you know, Naruto and I have a few tricks up our sleeves, as well." He made a smirk as he kept bluffing. "We were holding back in our fights. There are things you haven´t seen yet. On top of that, hey, it´s two against one, so don´t be a fool, okay? Just take my advice and go… quietly."

The redhead, however, seemed to ignore the empty threats. "I´ll say this once more: If you get in my way, I´ll kill you," he said, eyes narrowing.

"And I´ll say it again: Let´s see you try it!" Naruto shouted.

"Back off, will ya? We don´t wanna go there!" Shikamaru hissed. "This guy fights like he´s mad – like he´s a demon or something!"

Naruto smirked. "He can act like a demon if he wants to, but you know what? I got the real thing inside of me!"

Gaara closed his eyes. "A demon, huh?" he asked. "My demon is as real as yours is." He opened his eyes again. "I had a really fucked up childhood. To ensure that I became the strongest of ninja, my father had cast his Ninjutsu on me, infusing my unborn self with a sand spirit. I destroyed the life of the woman who gave birth to me. I was born a monster."

Naruto´s eyes widened. That sounded eerily familiar to how the Kyubi was sealed inside of him.

"Its name is Shukaku, and it´s the living incarnation of an old monk from the sand village, who had been sealed up in a jar of tea."

Gulping, Shikamaru kept the brave façade on. "Some kind of demonic Jutsu… but to use it on a baby before it´s been born? Man, that´s creepy," he said. "Gee, what a swell guy your dad must´ve been. He really must´ve loved you a lot."

"You speak of love?" Gaara asked. "Don´t measure me by your standards. 'Love'? 'Family'? The only emotional ties I have to my family… are the ones I like to wrap around their necks. And there are only ties of hate." He began moving his fingers, regaining control over his body. "Given life by the death of my mother, I was brought into being and nurtured as the salvation of the village. I was the Kazekage´s child. My father taught me the innermost secrets of the ninjas. He pampered and protected me… and left me to myself. For a time, I thought _that _was love… and that was when everything started."

"When what started?" the lazy boy asked, sounding tough.

Gaara was silent for a minute, but then he gave the two Konoha ninjas a very disturbing smile, looked at them with bloodlust in his eyes, and said, "In the six years since I became six years old… my father tried to destroy me more times than I can count!"

The two boys were horrified, but Shikamaru did his best to keep his cool. "You just finished saying how your father pampered and protected you," he stated. "So, which is it?"

The redhead´s smile dimmed a little as he clenched his fists. "Those who get to be too strong are apt to become feared," he said coolly. "The Jutsu that gave me birth had unbalanced something in my mind. Even the fools in my village finally realized that I had… emotional problems. My father, the Kazekage, created me as an ultimate weapon, but I eventually became a threat to the very village I was meant to save. By the time I was six, I became a figure of terror to the villagers. To them, I was a relic of the past that they wished would disappear. So, you see, I had failed the one purpose for which I was given life. What, then, was left for me in this existence? Why go on living? For a long time, I couldn´t find an answer to that. But in order to live, you need a purpose. To exist for no reason is the same as being dead."

Naruto was frightened beyond belief. _I know exactly what he means,_ he thought. _He´s… he´s the same as me!_

Gaara closed his eyes and his face became stoical again. "Then in time, the answer came to me. To put it simply, my reason for living is in the killing of others. For years, I was living in fear for those who were sent to murder me… but now I am at peace." He opened his eyes again. "I killed many would-be assassins. And it was while I was doing it that the truth became clear to me: I live solely for myself, I love only myself. As it was the death of my mother that first gave me life, now it is the death of others that sustains me. It makes me almost happy to be alive. And there is no end to it. As long as there are still people to kill in this great, wide, crowded world, I will never disappear."

That was the breaking point for Shikamaru. His façade was over, and his face now showed true terror. _This… freak… he´s outta his mind!_

Naruto could sympathize with the redhead. _I was alone, too, _he thought. _I didn´t know what I was here for – why I was alive – until Iruka-sensei came along. He saw what was in me. He gave me a purpose, a reason for living. But this guy had no one. He had to find the answer on his own… and THIS is what he came up with: to kill in order to live._ A frightening thought then crossed his mind: _Could _I _have ended up like that if…?_ Frightened, he realized that it was impossible for him to defeat Gaara.

And that was when the sand rose up, like cobras ready to strike their prey. The two boys frozen in terror, they stared as the sand rose to its highest. And then Gaara said, "Now… let me feel alive!" and the sand prepared to strike.

"Alright, that´s enough!"

The three boys turned towards the new voice and saw Guy, the leader of Lee´s team, in the doorway. "Save it till tomorrow – that´s when final competition begins!" he said as he stepped into the room. "You´re just wasting it today, is that what you want?"

The redhead then experienced another wave of painful memories as his sand returned to his gourd. He wheezed in pain as he held his head. He then staggered over to the door, leaving the three alone. Before he disappeared from their sight, however, he left one final message: "All the same, I will kill you. Just you wait. I´ll kill you all."

Will Gaara fulfill his threat? Will Konran be able to participate with only one day to heal? And how will our heroes fare against their opponents?

* * *

><p>dopliss: And so, we have learned about Gaara´s horrifying past.<p>

(A tiger-man appears)

Tiger-man: Hey, dopliss.

dopliss: Hey, Mizuki. Good to see you again.

Mizuki: Aren´t you gonna ask?

dopliss: Nah… this is filler, anyway.


	42. Chapter 42 The story of the Byakugan

**dopliss: Hey, guys, I´m back! Sorry for not having updated last week, but several distractions got in my way. There was a period where I was sick, my siblings´ birthdays and my little sister´s confirmation, and I´m even having my exams coming up soon!**

**Mizuki: Sounds rough.**

**dopliss: But now that that´s all said and done, let´s move on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto, and that´s final!**

* * *

><p>The day had finally arrived. The final round of the Chunin Exams was at hand. Many people both from Konoha and other villages have traveled far to see the skills and strategies of the twelve finalists.<p>

And speaking of the finalists, one of them was currently on his way towards the battlegrounds of the finals. And that one was Naruto Uzumaki. The boy was anxious about his upcoming battle against Neji, mostly because in the one month that he had to train, all that he had learned was to walk on water and summon toads.

On his way towards the battlefield, he came across the same area where his team and Team 6 were tested by Kakashi. And that was when he noticed that someone was standing in front of the three wooden pillars, back turned towards him. That someone was...

"Hinata?" Naruto asked.

Upon hearing the voice of her crush, the Hyuga girl gasped and jumped behind one of the pillars in surprise. "Oh! Naruto…!" she said meekly, slightly calming down. Looking down at the ground, she asked, "So… why are you here? The final competition…"

The boy sighed. "I just… It´s nothing," he said. "I came to check out this training field. This is actually the place where I became a genin, so…"

"Oh…" Hinata said, her cheeks being slightly pink. "But, why are you here?"

"Err… nothing," he said, turning away from her. "No real reason. It doesn´t matter anyway."

"Oh… I guess you´re right… Sorry."

After a few seconds of silence, Naruto turned his head to look at her again. "Say, Hinata? Neji… he´s a cousin of yours, right?" he asked.

"…Yeah…" she answered with a nod.

He fully turned to face her and looked at her with a stern look. "So, is he… really strong?"

She closed her eyes and gave a depressed sigh, answering Naruto´s question.

He sighed and closed his eyes. "Great…"

"But, I mean… you still might be able to win, Naruto…!" she stated.

He laughed a little cockily. "Yeah! I´m strong too, after all!" he said.

A few more seconds of silence lasted, before Hinata said while twiddling her index fingers together, "I know you can win, Naruto," much to the boy´s surprise. "I remember… that time… when you cheered for me. I felt like… I could become stronger than ever before. When the preliminaries ended, I was finally able to like myself a little. To anybody else, it might look like nothing´s changed about me… but I feel different, like I´m a better person now. And I´ve been thinking that… it was all thanks to you, Naruto."

"Hinata…" he said with depression in his voice. "Do you really believe that´s true? I may look strong to you, but all I ever do is mess things up. I act tough because I´m so frustrated… but underneath it all, I just feel like a huge failure…"

"No, that´s not true!" she exclaimed, causing him to look at her with curiosity. "Even when you messed up, you were always a – uh… how can I say this – a proud failure, from my point of view!" She smiled. "When I look at you, you just fill me with such… such admiration! I´m not saying that you´re perfect – I mean, no one is – but when you do make a mistake, you have the guts to pick yourself up and keep on trying. I think _that _courage, to keep going no matter what, is what real strength is. I just think… you´re an incredibly strong person, Naruto!" She hid a little more behind the pillar.

Naruto was stunned by her motivational speech, and a few seconds after she was done, he smiled brightly at her. "Thanks, Hinata, I needed that," he said. "Even though I´m completely used to being the underdog, I guess this time I was just really feeling the strain." She smiled more and more as he went on. "I was really down, which isn´t like me at all, but I feel 100% better now!"

"I´m glad you do," she said, clasping her hands together.

"Alright, I´m off to the match!" Naruto said, walking away from her. After a few steps, however, he stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look at her. "Hinata… I kinda thought you were… um…"

She was waiting excitedly for what he was about to say.

"…gloomy, timid, always terrified – and basically, completely weird," he finished, causing her to feel down. "But you know what? I actually like… people like you!" He then walked onwards, leaving her in a state of surprise and glee. "Oh yeah! Don´t forget to come and watch me wipe the floor with Neji!" he shouted to her before being out of sight and hearing range.

Once the orange-clad boy was gone, Kiba and Akamaru approached Hinata from behind. "Sorry I´m so late," he apologized. "Ah well, Shino´s isn´t till later, anyway." He was then confused by her silence and blank behavior, oblivious to the racing emotions within the girl.

* * *

><p>The arena where the final round of the exam was held was in the shape of a coliseum-like building, hundreds of spectators surrounding the field of battle. Among those spectators were those of Konoha´s genin who was eliminated in the preliminaries, their teachers, and the competitors´ parents. The field in the middle of the coliseum looked like a plain area with some trees at the walls.<p>

Standing in the middle was eleven people: Naruto, Shino, Shikamaru, Torabu, Sairento, Gaara, Neji, Temari, Kankuro, Dosu, and a man with brown eyes, dark-brown hair, dressed in Konoha´s jonin uniform, his ninja headband worn like a bandana, and a senbon needle in his mouth as if it was a straw.

Naruto looked around and took notice of the missing two competitors. "Hey, where´s Sasuke?" he asked aloud.

"And Konran´s also missing," the cat-boy said.

"Knock it off, you two," the man said in an annoyed tone. "Stand up straight and present yourself proudly to the spectators."

Once that was said, the spectators applauded like crazy, excited for what amazing battles that they were going to see. The finalists all tensed, each of them ready to face their chosen opponents.

"You are the heroes of this here competition," the man stated.

Up on a platform above the spectator seats were two chairs, one of which currently occupied by the Hokage, and behind him was one of his loyal jonin. "Any sign of Sasuke and Konran yet?" the old man asked.

"No," the jonin replied. "A team of ANBU is searching for Sasuke, but has so far found nothing of him. And it is highly unlikely that Konran will be in any stable condition to participate today." He then whispered into the Hokage´s ear, "Sasuke may already be in Orochimaru´s hands. In which case, of course, we may never find him."

The old village leader closed his eyes. "I understand."

At that moment, the two heard footsteps, and when they looked at the source, they were greeted with the sight of a man dressed like the Hokage, but with white and blue colors instead. Behind him were two men in sandy-brown cloaks.

"Aha! You made it!" the Hokage greeted with a smile. "Welcome, Lord Kazekage!" The Kazekage took a seat in the only other chair available. "You must be weary, having come all this way," the Hokage assumed.

"Not at all," the leader of the sand village replied, "I´m only glad that, for your sake, the arena is here in Konoha. As strong as you are, I´m sure a long journey would have proven difficult for you at your age. Isn´t it about time you find out who would succeed you as Hokage?"

The Hokage laughed heartily at the proposal. "You act as if I was an old man! There´s plenty of life left in me!" He stood up and approached the edge of the platform. "No, I plan on staying here for some time to come." He then turned serious. "Now then, it´s time for the final round to begin."

He then took a deep breath and began his speech to the people. "Welcome, all! And our deepest thanks for coming here to Konoha for this year´s chunin selection! We have come to the final competition between the twelve candidates who made it through the preliminaries! We ask that no one leaves until all the battles have been completed! Now, everyone, enjoy!"

As the crowd cheered in excitement, the Kazekage cleared his throat. "You said 'twelve' candidates… where are the last two?" he asked the Hokage.

The man took out a piece of paper with the matchups on out of his vest and showed it to the competitors. "Everyone, take on last look at who you´ll be facing," he said.

Naruto raised his hand. "Um, question!" he started. "What´ll happen to Sasuke if he don´t show up?"

Putting the matchup list into his pocket, the man said, "If a candidate isn´t here at the arena at the time his name is called, he forfeits the match."

Unbeknownst to everyone, Gaara had spied on Sasuke and Kakashi during their training. And he was completely tense, feeling bloodlust well up in him.

Baki took notice of his redheaded student´s jittering fingers, and it caused fear to rise in him. _No! After all my warnings not to draw attention to himself, he wouldn´t have killed Sasuke Uchiha too… would he?_

_I have to tell him, _Sairento thought as she slowly raised her hand. "Sensei, I have something to say about Konran Reijingu," she said. "He is-"

"Right there!" Torabu exclaimed, pointing at the entrance.

Everyone looked and saw the blue-haired boy walk unsteadily into the arena. "Hello there," he greeted with a weak smile.

The mute girl ran over to her teammate and slung his right arm over her shoulder. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked through gritted teeth. "You know you´re in no condition to fight!"

"I can at least try my best," he said.

"You won´t last a minute against your opponent!" she countered.

"As long as I am careful, I think I can last for a while." He looked directly at her, trying to look her in the eyes through her mask. "Please, just give me a chance to prove myself, Sairento."

She sighed heavily. "If anything bad happens, I WILL interfere."

He smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

Once the two had made it over to the rest, the man said, "Alright, listen up! The terrain´s different, but the rules are the same as before. That is that there are _no _rules. The match continues until one candidate acknowledges defeat or dies. That being said, if I determine that a match is over, then I can step in and stop it at any time. And no arguments permitted. Understood?" Upon getting affirming silence for an answer, he said, "These are the opponents for the first match: Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga. Those two can stay, while the rest of you can go to the waiting area."

While the first two competitors of the finals glared daggers at each other, the rest of the finalists, just like before, went up to an alcove that was all to themselves.

Up in the spectator seats, Kiba and Hinata looked on with excitement. "I think this is gonna be a pretty interesting match," the former stated.

Elsewhere among the crowd were Ino and Sakura, the two girls seated next to each other. Upon noticing the pink-haired girl´s sadness, the blonde said, "Hey, Sakura, I know that you´re worried about Sasuke, but come on, don´t be such a lump. Aren´t you gonna cheer Naruto up?"

Sakura snapped out of her funk and smiled at her rival. "You´re right!" she said.

Ino smiled. "That´s more like it! Not that the little runt has a chance or anything…"

"He´s not _that_ bad."

"Are you kidding? 'Not that bad'? Is that the best you can say?"

"Who would believe that little squirt would´ve lasted so far?" one of the examiners said aloud, referring to Naruto.

"Yeah, he´s been one lucky kid so far, but his luck´s about to run out," the other examiner responded. "He´ll never survive this one."

"He certainly won´t if he´s up against one of the Hyuga clan."

Nearby, Hinata and Kiba have heard them, and while the former glared at the two, the latter smirked. _Yeah, I thought that, too, at first, and look what happened, _he thought. _He´s out there, and I´m here, sitting on my butt._

Just then, Akamaru whimpered something, causing the canine boy to look around in alert. He then spotted the source of the small dog´s worry in the form of a cloaked ANBU agent. "What are the ANBU black ops doing here?" he asked lowly.

The two combatants faced each other, ready to battle. "You got anything to say to me?" Neji asked.

Naruto held out his right fist in front of him, a vicious scowl on his face. "Only what I told you the last time!" he growled. "I vow to win!"

The Hyuga prodigy activated his Byakugan as he glared deeply into his opponent´s eyes. _He has the look, _he thought. _He´s calmer now, and surer of himself – so much the better for me. _He took his infamous battle stance and smirked. "I can´t wait to see the look of despair on your face when you learn that your foolish vow is impossible to keep."

"Are we gonna stand here talking all day?" Naruto asked as a force of wind surrounded the two. "Let´s go! Show me what you got!"

"Looks like this´ll be a match of the ages," Torabu said, slightly shielding himself from the wind.

"Alright then," the proctor said, "let the first match… begin!"

The two competitors just stood still like statues, waiting for their opponent to make the first move.

Meanwhile, up in the spectator seats, two members of the Hyuga family, Hinata´s father and little sister, were watching with sharp eyes. "Watch closely, Hinabi," Hinata´s father said, "there´s nobody in the Hyuga clan who has inherited such a strong Kekkei Genkai. His is stronger than your older sister´s."

Hinabi looked curiously at her father. "Stronger than hers?" she asked.

"Perhaps even stronger than yours," he stated, much to his daughter´s surprise.

Kiba looked intently at the battlefield as he gave a silent prayer to Naruto. _Watch yourself! This is no pushover you´re up against! Not with that Byakugan of his!_ He glanced at the side to see that Hinata looked on with worry evident in her eyes. _You don´t wanna get too close to this guy… but does Naruto know that?_

Upon seeing that Neji had taken a very little movement towards him, Naruto threw two kunai at him, but the white-eyed boy caught one and used it to deflect the other. The orange-clad boy then rushed towards his opponent and threw a right punch, only to be sidestepped. Not wanting to get hit by an attack that could hit his chakra points, Naruto leapt away from his opponent and then back to him to deliver a flurry of punches, all of which being either blocked of pushed away.

Growing weary of being in the defensive position, Neji caught his opponent off guard, hit him with a strong palm in the chest to stun him, and then stabbed Naruto in the right shoulder with two fingers. As the orange-clad boy rolled backwards and away from his opponent, he was fortunate enough that the Hyuga boy had somehow missed his chakra points. Realizing that close quarters combat was out of the question, Naruto began strategizing how to attack from a distance.

"Do you understand now?" Neji asked. "You have no way of beating me!"

Naruto, however, smirked. "Get real!" he said confidently. "I was just checking you out, that´s all!" He stood up, panting in exhaustion from the flurry of punches he had made. "Okay, now that we´re warmed up, we can get started!" He made hand-seals, and then he made four clones of himself, courtesy of his Shadow Clone Jutsu.

_Shadow Clones?_ Neji thought with great interest. _Clever move… He´s evenly distributed his chakra among them so that even my Byakugan can´t pick up the real one._ He smirked. "No matter. You can´t hide for long!"

"Ha! Well, we´re gonna see about that!" the Narutos all said at once.

When the four clones attacked, Neji managed to successfully dodge, sidestep and block each of the attacks. Even when it seemed that one of the clones had kicked him in the chin, the Hyuga prodigy had just leaped backwards. Then, when two clones rushed him at the same time from each side, the white-eyed boy jumped into the air, spun around rapidly, and delivered a strong kick to each of the two clones, causing them to dissolve into nothing. When the final two clones tried to attack him from behind, Neji just dodged them, pushed them forward, and delivered a strong thrust of his palm to each of them, destroying them as well.

"This guy must have eyes in the back of his head!" Torabu marveled, his eyes glued to the battle.

"You thought you could be Hokage?" Neji asked the real Naruto. "It´s absurd! Never! These eyes of mine show me many things. One thing they´ve shown me is that people´s limitations are fixed, set, and unchangeable. Only a fool wastes his time trying to what he can never be."

Naruto growled in anger, his fists clenched tightly. "A fool, huh?" he asked though gritted teeth. "Here we go again! Who are you to judge what a person can or can´t be?"

"Do you think anyone can be Hokage?" Neji asked. "That all it takes is a little hard work? Open your eyes. Of all the ninjas in the entire world, think how few ever become Hokage. They were born _destined_ to be Hokage. It´s not something you become merely by _trying_ to become one. They were chosen by destiny! Each person is given his own path to follow, and he must follow it obediently to the end." He closed his eyes and opened them again. "There is only one destiny that we all share equally: death!"

Up in the sidelines, Hinata´s father stared at his nephew with a cold stare. _There is hatred in his eyes – hatred for the main branch of the family, _he thought.

"So what?" Naruto asked angrily. "You can think that way if you want! People have always told me I just don´t know when to give up! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Having created an entire army of clones, they all charged towards Neji. But again, no matter how the attacks were executed or where they came from, the Hyuga prodigy repeatedly dodged, blocked, countered and sidestepped them all.

"You think I can be fooled with a trick like that?" the white-eyed boy asked confidently as he zoomed past the clones and struck the real Naruto in his left shoulder with his fingertips. "Make as many clones as you can, you can´t hide from me! By staying the furthest away from me, you reveal yourself as the real one." He took a step back as all of the clones disappeared and Naruto fell to the ground. "I told you it was pointless."

Up in the sidelines, Hinata coughed in a sick manner as she begged for Naruto to fight on.

Naruto suddenly began laughing. He looked up at his opponent with a smirk as he said, "And I told you it was a mistake to count me out!"

The Naruto the disappeared, revealing itself to be another Shadow Clone! Caught off guard, Neji turned around and saw two more Narutos leap at him. Both of them threw a punch at the Hyuga prodigy at the same time and hit his cheeks-

-but somehow, blue chakra had appeared around Neji, and with a mighty spin of his body, he flung both Narutos away, creating a crater around him!

Neji stood up straight, looking at the last Naruto remaining, the other having dissolved into nothing. "What the hell was that?" the orange-clad boy asked.

"Did you really think you´d won?" the white-eyed boy asked with a devilish smirk plastered on his lips.

_The Byakugan, as far as I understand, gives the user a 360 degree field of vision, _Konran thought. _There is no blind spot in Neji´s defense at all._

Naruto tried to attack from many different angles with his clones once again, but Neji spun around once again and knocked them all back with a powerful force of chakra.

Up on the sidelines, Hinabi was in shock at the display. "But, I thought only father could-!"

"It´s a secret ninja art," her father interrupted. "A technique that allows the user to release his chakra in a huge burst out from his entire body. It has remained only to be taught to the main household of the Hyuga clan. But Neji had somehow discovered it on his own, incredible as it may seem. He has come far."

"This is the end for you," Neji said threateningly. "You´re in range, and you can´t escape my Eight Trigrams!" He took a battle stance. "Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

Hinata´s father gasped. "That stance… it can´t be!"

Without warning, Neji rushed up to Naruto and repeatedly thrust his chakra-coated palms into the orange-clad boy, each hit being doubled in amount each time, starting with two, then four, then eight, then sixteen, then thirty-two, and finally ending with sixty-four hits at once. "Eight Trigrams Two Palms! Four Palms! Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms! Thirty-Two Palms! Sixty-Four Palms!" Neji shouted as Naruto was flung backwards and onto his back, his chakra points closed off.

The proctor walked up to the two boys to check on the situation. "Looks like it´s over," he stated.

Hinata´s father had a lot on his mind. _To think that Hyuga´s Kekkei Genkai would find its purest form in this child of the lesser branch of the clan,_ he thought. _A child banned from the line of succession. Truly, my brother, you´ve been denied what was rightfully yours._

"I have now struck all sixty-four of your chakra points," Neji informed Naruto. "You´re lucky to still be breathing." He smirked as he saw Naruto struggle to get back up. "Well… must be frustrating to realize how utterly hopeless it all was, this little dream of yours. You thought you could succeed through hard work alone? That´s only an illusion."

Hinata´s coughing was starting to become more violent, something that caused Kiba to pay attention to her.

As Naruto struggled, he remembered how hard Rock Lee and Hinata had fought in their preliminary battles despite their chances being next to none. And that determination fueled his desire to win. "No… way…!" he said, managing to stand up straight. He panted hard as he glared at his shocked opponent.

"Impossible…!" Neji gasped. "How could he…?"

Naruto laughed a little. "I told you… I just don´t know when to give up…!" he panted.

Kiba became very worried when he saw Hinata cough up blood. "You must still be injured from your match," he figured. "Do you need some water or something?"

"Let me have a look at her."

Kiba turned to face the one who spoke and saw the ANBU agent that he saw earlier. "Uh, who´re you?" he asked.

"It´s alright, you can trust me," the agent said.

"Stop this madness," Neji growled at Naruto, "you´ll only get more of the same! I have nothing against you personally!"

"Hmph! That´s touching! You´re gonna make me cry!" Naruto said sarcastically. "Anyway, I´ve got plenty against you!"

"I don´t know what you mean."

"You don´t?" Naruto asked. "And here I thought you were Mr. Know-It-All! You don´t remember what you did to Hinata, huh?" He began sounding angrier. "The way you worked on her with your mind games? Tearing her down when she worked so hard to get here?"

The Hyuga prodigy narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Never mind that – it doesn´t concern you!" he stated.

"You mocked Hinata, calling her a failure! All that stuff about the 'great' Hyuga clan… Main household? Side branches? Who cares? It doesn´t give you the right to decide who´s a failure! THAT´S what I got against you!"

The agent had led Hinata and Kiba away from the crowd. He placed the former of the members of Team 8 on the floor, placed a hand on her chest, and then a green chakra surrounded his hand. "Hey, what´re you doing?" Kiba asked.

"Don´t worry, I´m a doctor," the agent replied.

Neji had had enough of his pestering opponent. "Very well!" he said. "As you´re so interested, I´ll tell you all about it – the Hyuga clan´s heritage of hatred!" His voice dripped with anger and acid. "For generations, the main household of our clan have practiced a secret Ninjutsu known as the Curse Mark Jutsu!"

"Curse Mark Jutsu?" Naruto asked curiously.

Neji closed his eyes. "The curse mark is the symbol of a bird locked in its cage. It´s the mark of those who are bound by a destiny they cannot escape." He took off his headband, showing a mark that looked like a swastika with two horizontal lines going along each side of his forehead.

"That´s… the curse mark?" Naruto asked, stunned.

"I was four years old when the leaders of my clan branded this symbol on my forehead with their Curse Mark Jutsu," Neji told. "On that same day, a great celebration took place in Konoha. After many years of war, a peace agreement had at last been made with the Land of Lightning, and they had sent the head cloud ninjas to sign the treaty and join in the celebration. Everyone was there to welcome our own enemies – every genin and jonin in the village. Only one clan was absent: the Hyuga clan, because this was the day when the heir of the main household was to turn three. It was Lady Hinata´s third birthday."

Neji glanced up at where Hinata´s father sat as he continued. "Her father, Lord Hiashi Hyuga, is sitting up there. He and my father, Hizashi, are twin brothers. And yet, _he_ entered into the world first, so _he _is head of the family, the firstborn, while my father, his twin brother, is banished to a lesser branch of the family!"

He remembered when he attended Hinata´s third birthday and how Hiashi had said that he would take him 'under his wind', fueling with more anger as he went on. "It was then, on the day the heir of the main household turned three, that the curse mark was put on me and I was made a bird in a cage by my own uncle!"

"You and that clan of yours… What´s the point of it all?" Naruto asked. "Why have a main family and a branch family? And this weird curse mark… what does it mean, anyway?"

Neji narrowed his eyes. "I can assure you one thing: it´s not simply for decoration." He remembered when his father had tried to use the Byakugan, only to be stopped by his brother, who used a Jutsu to send a painful ringing through Hizashi´s mind.

"You see, this is more than a mark that we bear, it is also the instrument by which they keep us in our place. We live with the fear that they will use this curse mark to turn our brains into jelly at any time when they wish. Fear… _that_ is what we live with, and we live with it every day. Only in death are we free of it. This is how the power of the Byakugan is sealed away. Only the Hyuga posses this unique form of Kekkei Genkai – and of course, there are many who would steal it from us. That is why we exist. It is the purpose of the branch family to defend that secret and to serve the keepers of the secret, the main household, obediently and without question for eternity. THAT is our destiny! Or was…"

"Jeez, sounds rough," Torabu commented, his ears drooping.

Neji closed his eyes. "Until that dreadful night… They went too far…" He opened his eyes again, hatred radiating from them. "…when they murdered my father!" The sentence was a shocker for Naruto.

"One night, someone entered the household and abducted Lady Hinata. Lord Hiashi quickly caught and killed the man. And who was this intruder who was stealing through the shadows in the dead of night and wearing a mask over his face? It was none other than the head cloud ninja from the Land of Lightning, the man who had just signed an alliance with us. It was obvious to everyone that he was after the secret of the Byakugan, but the Land of Lightning professed shock at this willful murder of their ninja. They claimed that Konoha was in violation of the treaty and demanded recompense. Things got worse and worse, until it looked like war would break out anew. Konoha wanted, above all things, to avoid war, so at last, they made a deal."

"A deal?" Naruto asked.

"A life for a life," Neji explained. "The Land of Lightning demanded the death of the person who had slain their ninja. If there was to be peace, Lord Hiashi must die. Konoha accepted their terms…" Neji tightened his grip around his headband. "...And so, to avert a war, a man was killed… but not Hiashi! My father, his twin brother, was killed in his place… in order to protect the main household!" Everyone present could see the sadness and hatred in the Hyuga prodigy´s words. "Only in death was my father finally free of this curse mark! They were so much alike… twin brothers… but their destinies had been determined long ago… when one was born a few seconds after the other!"

He looked directly at the shocked Naruto. "And this match is the same," he said. "Your destiny was decided the moment I was chosen as your opponent! It´s your destiny to lose to me, and that´s that."

Snapping out of his shock, Naruto shouted, "Well, we won´t see that unless you beat me!" As his opponent put his headband back on, the orange-clad boy said, "Okay, so your father was killed a long time ago, and I know it wasn´t fair and can understand why you´re upset about that, but that´s got _nothing_ to do with destiny! If you think I´m buying that, you´re wrong!"

"You will never understand," Neji said coolly, having calmed down.

The white-eyed boy rushed up to Naruto and thrust his left palm into his stomach, sending him a little away and onto his back.

"Proctor!" Neji said. "It´s over." He turned away from Naruto and snorted, "You´re a failure."

"W-Wait…!" Naruto said, once again struggling to stand up, and barely managing to. "Don´t walk away from me…! I´m not done yet…! I don´t quit, and I don´t go back on my word – that´s my ninja way!"

Neji remembered Hinata saying the exact same thing during their battle and found it amusing. He faced his opponent again and smirked cockily. "I´ve heard those words before," he stated.

"You and your stupid destiny!" Naruto panted. "Well, if you really believe it, why aren´t YOU the one walking away?"

The Hyuga prodigy´s patience was almost completely depleted. "You impudent, little brat," he said. "Why waste my breath explaining it to you? We are all given a destiny at birth, and it´s pointless to fight against it!" Upon remembering how his father had told him that he was the most skilled in the use of the Byakugan, he was filled to the brim with anger. "You don´t know what it´s like to be branded with a mark that sets you apart, a mark that can _never_ be wiped away!"

Naruto thought otherwise. His entire life was proof enough that he knew more about being different and isolated than Neji could ever do. He glared daggers at the white-eyed boy and panted, "Oh yeah… I know what that´s like." He smirked. "Well? Big deal! No one cares!"

Neji gritted his teeth. "Worthless little…!"

"Man… you think you got troubles? I´ve got news for you, Neji: you´re not the only special one around here! Did you ever think that Hinata might be suffering as much as you are? It´s not her fault that her father was born before yours, but you resent her for it! You disrespect her, even when she´s trying so hard to prove herself! All she wanted was your respect! That´s what she was fighting for, even though it almost killed her! And what was that all about, anyway? I thought it was your main destiny to _serve_ the main household, not to beat it to a bloody pulp! After all you said about how you can´t fight destiny, you don´t really believe in it either, do you?"

Kiba stared in awe as Hinata´s features began looking better. _Whoa! These ANBU black ops… they´re really good!_ he thought.

"Should be alright now," the agent said. "She just needs rest."

Neji smirked when he saw Naruto wobble and cough. "I´ve blocked all sixty-four of your chakra points," he said. "How are you planning to keep on fighting if you can´t use your chakra against me? It´s fitting that you sympathize with Hinata, because you´re about to share her fate!"

"Oh, really?" Naruto asked angrily. "You think that Byakugan of yours sees everything? You know everyone´s weakness, right?"

"That´s right – but if you think you can prove me wrong, well, be my guest!"

"You got it! I´m gonna show you that you´re wrong about a lot of things, starting right now!"

In reality, Naruto was worried about being able to fight without any chakra. He felt completely drained. And then he remembered about the other chakra hidden within him. Having nothing to lose, he made a hand-seal and tried his hardest to charge his chakra.

Neji, however, found his attempt amusing. "Why fight a hopeless battle trying to defy your destiny?" he asked mockingly.

Naruto glared at the white-eyed boy. "´Cos people called me a failure! I´ll prove them wrong!" he replied.

And then, much to everyone in the arena, Naruto´s red chakra radiated through him, glowing with an amazing power. The chakra was so powerful that it managed to break open the closed chakra points! Once he had fully charged his chakra, Naruto felt stronger than ever as an aura of the red chakra surrounded him.

Naruto then used his incredible speed to zoom behind Neji and throw shuriken at him, which were deflected by the Hyuga prodigy´s spinning force of chakra. He then took out four of his own shuriken and threw them at the orange-clad boy, who moved out of the way and disappeared at supersonic speed. The white-eyed boy quickly dodged another punch and leaped away, throwing a kunai at his opponent, who countered by throwing a kunai of his own.

When the two weapons collided and fell to the ground, the two boys leapt towards each other, both ready to deliver the final blow. Once both were close enough, they hit each other´s fist, and the collision of chakra was enough to create an explosion powerful enough to shake the entire arena!

Once the cloud of dust had cleared, two man-sized craters were dug into the ground. Out of one of them, Neji crawled out, thoroughly shaken by the explosion. He panted hard as he staggered over to the other crater and stared down at Naruto´s unconscious body.

"Sorry… but this is reality…" Neji panted. "You´re a failure… This match is over-"

Everyone was royally surprised when another Naruto suddenly burst out of the ground underneath Neji and punched the Hyuga prodigy in the chin hard enough to send him flying! At the sight of the orange-clad boy´s chipped fingernails, it was obvious that he had dug in order to get to his opponent.

"I… can´t move…!" Neji groaned as the Naruto in the crater dissolved into nothing, revealing the hole that the real one had dug. The white-eyed boy glared at his opponent as he hovered exhaustingly over him. "I should have known you would use that Shadow Clone Jutsu…! It´s your specialty, after all…! I was careless…!"

"For the record… I failed the graduation exam three times…" Naruto panted gloatingly. "There was this Jutsu… that was always on the exam… and I flunked at it every time…! It was the one Jutsu… that I could never master…!"

Smirking, the proctor announced, "The winner is… Naruto Uzumaki!" causing cheers to erupt from the crowd.

"Looks like even caged birds can break free," Torabu muttered to himself as he applauded his friend.

Now that Naruto has won, has he done well enough to get promoted to chunin? Will Konran be able to fight against Kankuro despite his wounds? And will Sasuke arrive in time?

* * *

><p>dopliss: Looks like the length of this chapter should make up for my little involuntary break!<p>

Mizuki: You´re telling me! This must be one of the longest chapters in this story yet!

dopliss: And 'yet' means I might make longer chapters in the future!


	43. Chapter 43 Shadow vs wind

**dopliss: And so, let´s continue!**

**Mizuki: (puzzled) What, no witty remark? No insult? No pointless attacks coming my direction?**

**dopliss: Thanks for mentioning. (blasts Mizuki with Hadouken)**

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Lord Kishimoto, and the Hadouken belongs to Capcom´s Street Fighter series.**

* * *

><p>Naruto could not contain himself from experiencing happiness when he looked around at the applauding audience and heard their cheers. Smiling brightly, he gave them a victory sign and whooped in victory.<p>

As the hospital ninjas came into the arena to pick up the defeated Neji, the proctor stared at the orange-clad boy with a smirk on his lips. _Incredible, _he thought. _Even after that fight, he has the energy to run around. That kid has amazing stamina._

Not as cheerful as the rest of the crowd, Sakura stared at her teammate with a pouting expression. _Naruto just keeps getting stronger, _she thought with a sigh as she heard some positive comments from some of the females in the audience. _I hate to admit it, Naruto, but I envy you. Watching your battle has made me realize that I have to work really hard, too… if I wanna get anywhere._

"Naruto defeated Neji?" Shikamaru asked in disbelief. "Oh man, I can´t believe it. And I thought Naruto was the same as me – one of the dorky, un-cool guys."

Konran sighed. "I am saying this again: never trust a book by its cover," he reminded.

"Dorky and un-cool?" Shino asked, questioning Shikamaru´s choice of words.

The lazy boy, however, ignored the bug-user. "Now everyone´s saying he´s gonna make something big of himself," he said. "Just great. I doubt I can beat him now. This is really bad." He hung his head and sighed. "I´ve never felt so depressed. What a drag…"

Up in his chair, the Hokage was utterly amazed by Naruto´s proof of skill. _Remarkable!_ he thought. _When did he learn to control the chakra of the Kyubi to such a degree?_

* * *

><p>Later, in a resting room inside of the coliseum-like building, the hospital ninjas have fixed Neji up, the Hyuga prodigy currently lying on a bed. "Good news: no damage to your internal organs," one of them said to the white-eyed boy.<p>

"It seems like you used up all your chakra," the other said.

Neji, meanwhile, was still pondering about all that his opponent had said during their fight. Especially the part where he said that anyone could defy destiny and that each individual´s future was not predetermined.

The sound of a nearby door opening attracted the three´s attentions. "Lord Hyuga…!" one of the hospital ninjas gasped.

"I´m sorry, but… could you please step out for a moment?" Hiashi Hyuga asked.

"Well… we´re not supposed to…" the other hospital ninja replied.

"It won´t take long."

The ninja doctors nodded. "Yes, of course," one of them said as both of them left, closing the door after them.

Neji sat up on the bed and leg his legs hang down one of the sides. "What do you want with me?" he asked.

"You know that day…" Hiashi started. "Well, I´ve come to tell you the truth about what really happened."

The boy narrowed his eyes. "What´re you saying?" he asked curiously.

The man´s expression turned sad as he walked over to the bedside. As far as Neji remembered, he had found his father´s corpse surrounded by other sorrowful members of the Hyuga clan. "That day…" Hiashi said, "I was fully prepared to die."

"What? What´re you talking about?" Neji asked, shocked by the statement. "That day, my father was forced to pose as you and was murdered for the sake of the family!"

The leader of the Hyuga clan reached into his kimono and pulled out a scroll. Then he explained, "The truth you seek… The truth is here in the scroll."

The boy looked away from his uncle in disbelief. "Of course… It´s only excuses made for the convenience of the head family."

Laying it next to his nephew, Hiashi said, "The person you are now should be able to understand."

Neji glanced to the side at the scroll and was surprised by the kanji written on it. "That writing…!" he gasped as he picked the scroll up and opened it, reading its contents.

_**Neji…**_

_**I am afraid that I only have little time left… and I wanna use that limited time to tell you something.**_

_**The head cloud ninja from the Land of Lightning tried to abduct Hinata, but Lord Hiashi killed the would-be kidnapper. However, the Land of Lightning refused to even acknowledge the abduction attempt, and instead only made trouble about the head ninja´s death. The demands for retribution were completely unreasonable.**_

_**Your uncle Hiashi proposed to sacrifice himself in order for the retribution, and he did not change his mind despite what the elders said about the Kekkei Genkai in our veins. Hiashi was prepared to sacrifice his life, and by extension the Byakugan, in order to avoid war. That was when one of the elders proposed to use my corpse instead of my brother´s.**_

_**Hiashi complained about the idea of killing me and handing over my body since it was the Byakugan that the Land of Lightning was after, and as you know, our Kekkei Genkai vanishes whenever we from the family´s side branch die. The elder knew that very well, but he reminded us that the deal only involved handing over the dead body of Hiashi Hyuga, and nothing more.**_

_**Sometimes, brothers must have the courage to sacrifice each other. Those were the words of the elder.**_

_**My brother still refused the idea, but I knocked him to the floor in order to keep him from doing anything rash. He then asked me why I was so willing to sacrifice my life when I had you, my son. And this is what I told him:**_

"_**For a long time, I had resented the head family. To tell the truth, even now I am bitter. I am not doing this because you´re a part of the head family… I want to die protecting you, because you´re my brother, Hiashi. It´s the first time I´ve had free enough to choose my own path, the first time I´ve truly had freedom. I´ve always only showed Neji my ugly side… but this time it´s different. This time, I finally come to act the way I believe is the best."**_

_**I then told my brother to give you a message. A message that would inform you that I didn´t got killed to protect the main family, but rather to protect my sibling´s family and village, and that by my own free will, I chose death over freedom.**_

_**By choosing my own destiny, I had become free from the fate of the Hyuga family.**_

_**Forge your own destiny, Neji. Your fate is something you create with your own hands…**_

Neji trembled in sorrow as he read the letter over and over. "Father…" he muttered sadly.

He looked back at Hiashi to find the man bowing down on his hands and knees. "This is the truth," he said. "I´m sorry…"

The white-eyed boy calmed down and looked at the floor. "Please, Lord Hiashi, don´t bow to me," he said.

Even though he seemed calm, Neji was crying, which was evident by the tears rolling down his cheeks. _Father…_ he thought. _I can´t be sure if a person´s destiny is like a cloud – floating on a set current it can´t escape – or if people can ride on whatever breeze they may choose. I don´t know. I don´t completely understand it yet. And maybe the destination is the same no matter what you choose. Just when you choose one course, along comes someone who´s picked a different path… one that´s devoted to life his life to its fullest. There´s real strength to be found in that love of life – I finally understand that because of this latest battle._

He stood up and walked up to a nearby window to look at the sky. _Now, Father, I have only one goal: to become stronger so I won´t lose to anyone again. That´s what I feel my goal is now. _He smiled happily and warmly as he looked at the birds soaring in the sky. _Father… I wish you could see these birds flying. They´re finding their freedom, too…_

* * *

><p>Back in the arena, the crowd was riled up, ready to watch the next heated battle.<p>

"This crowd is certainly energized," the Kazekage chuckled.

"That´s because it was a terrific fight," the Hokage replied.

Looking at his fellow village leader, the leader of the sand village stated, "Of course, it´s that too, but… it´s also anticipation – it´s likely that the ninja leaders, feudal lords, and other spectators are looking forward to this next battle more than anything." He referred to Sasuke´s upcoming match with Gaara. "By the way, the Uchiha wasn´t at the opening ceremony – he has arrived already, hasn´t he?"

"Uh… well…" The Hokage was at a loss for words.

Coming to his lord´s rescue, the jonin from before whispered into the old man´s ear, "There´s been no news of Sasuke yet, and there´s the issue of Orochimaru. Please, before anyone makes trouble, disqualify Sasuke."

"Hey, what´s going on here?" one of the spectators asked angrily. "Hurry up and start the next match, already!"

"Sometime before nightfall, please!" another shouted.

"I wonder what´s going on," Ino pondered. "The next match… Sasuke should be here by now." Sakura was equally as worried.

"Sasuke´s not planning on forfeiting… is he?" Torabu asked with uncertainty.

"A wise man never quits danger," Shino stated, as if he was citing a proverb, "leading to a wise decision."

Naruto took a quick glance to the side at Gaara, understanding the threat that he possessed. Confidently, he said, "Sasuke´s definitely gonna be here, believe it!" _But seriously, what _is_ he doing? If he doesn´t get here soon, he´s gonna get disqualified._

"I have no choice," the Hokage sighed. "Sasuke… is disqualified."

"Sasuke Uchiha is disqualified?" the Kazekage asked.

"Ye… I´m afraid this has to be done."

Kankuro started to become nervous. Whispering to his sister, he asked, "What´re we gonna do now? If he doesn´t show up, our strategy is ruined!"

"This is really bad…!" Temari whispered back, much anxiety in her voice.

Gaara recalled to when he was spying on Sasuke´s training, and then spotted by Kakashi.

"Lord Hokage," the Kazekage started, "I ask you to consider a little longer before disqualifying Sasuke Uchiha."

The jonin turned his attention to the leader of the sand village and replied, "I understand your point, but no matter how excellent a ninja he may be, he´s late, and we can´t make special allowances. If there is no clear reason to make the ninja leaders and feudal lords wait, then there´s no reason not to disqualify him immediately."

The Kazekage closed his eyes. "I see… Then it´s good I _do _have a clear reason." The Hokage looked at his fellow village leader with interest. "Including myself, most of the ninja leaders and feudal lords here came simply because they want to see the next match. He´s the only remaining member of the Uchiha clan, and I know that the Land of Wind especially is hoping for a bout between Sasuke and Gaara."

The Hokage pondered over this for a minute. _There´s no guarantee that Sasuke will come, but…_ "Very well, then," he said. "We will make an exception. We shall postpone this match and wait."

"But, Lord Hokage," the jonin started, "I must protest!"

But the leader of Konoha was not able to be persuaded now. "Inform the proctor right away," he ordered. As the jonin executed the command, the old man turned to his equal. "…However, it´s most unusual for you to insist so strongly, Lord Kazekage."

"To display the full strength of our village´s ninjas, no opponent but an Uchiha will do," the leader of the sand village replied. "This is a big chance for Sasuke, yes, but a big opportunity for us as well."

Having been told the Hokage´s order, the proctor faced the crowd in order to calm them down. "Listen, everyone," he said. "One of the competitors from the next battle has not arrived yet… so we´re going to postpone this match briefly and simply jump ahead to the following battle."

Naruto sighed in relief. "That´s good…"

Sairento looked at Konran with a worried gaze, though it was not visible. "Konran, please, drop out of the competition while you still can," she pleaded.

"I told you that if I do not strain my body, then I can probably last for a while," the blue-haired boy replied.

"I am dead serious. Don´t make me keep you from fighting by force." She placed her hand on her kunai holster.

"Will the next two competitors please step into the ring? Kankuro and Konran?" the proctor asked.

The puppet master grimaced. _My match… doesn´t matter at all now,_ he thought. _Besides, I don´t wanna reveal the mechanism of my trained Crow puppet to the enemy before our plan come to fruition._

"Sairento, I will do whatever that is necessary in order to enter the battle," Konran said decisively, looking directly at his female teammate. "There is nothing that you can do in order to stop this match."

"Proctor! I withdraw!" Kankuro shouted, much to the surprise of the other finalists. "I withdraw, so please advance to the next match!"

"You were right… there was nothing I could do…" the mute girl said in a deadpan voice, a sweat-drop running down the back of her head.

As the crowd booed in annoyance and disappointment, Konran stared at his forfeiting opponent. _Something is wrong… Why did he give up? He does not look like anything is wrong with him… so what is the true reason?_

Sighing in his own annoyance, the proctor announced, "Due to Kankuro´s withdrawal, Konran Reijingu wins by default."

Growing annoyed by the complaining audience, Temari folded out her fan, created a small whirlwind, and glided on her fan down to the field. "And you are?" the proctor asked as the girl got on her feet and folded her fan together again.

"It´s my turn, right?" she replied.

"Well, you sure are an eager one, aren´t ya?" the proctor muttered. "Alright, let´s start the next match, then." He then looked up at the alcove for the finalists and shouted to Shikamaru, "Hey! You up there, get ready!"

"Why does it have to be _my _match that´s next up?" the lazy boy complained. "Oh man, this is such a drag!" _Great… If it´s gonna be like this, maybe I´ll withdraw too…_

Before Shikamaru could do anything, however, Naruto had the bright idea of wishing his friend good luck with his match by patting him on the back. Unfortunately for the lazy boy, Naruto´s definition of 'patting someone on the back' included hyperactively pushing him over the railing and down into the arena. This, along with the fact that the alcove was raised five meters over the ground, concluded with Shikamaru landing on his back painfully.

_Thanks a lot, Naruto!_ he thought sarcastically.

The crowd was only agitated further by the lazy boy´s lack of motivation, and as a result, they started throwing empty cans of soda, used napkins and banana peels at him, all while the proctor and Temari watched silently.

_They don´t care about this match… I´m just a warm-up for the main event, _Shikamaru thought in boredom. _All they care about is watching Sasuke. Listen to those jerks… Well, if that´s the way they´re gonna be, then maybe I won´t give them a match at all._

As if she had read his mind, Temari asked, "You gonna give up, too?"

The situation was not getting any better when the lazy boy got reminded of who his opponent was. _And to top it all off, my opponent´s a girl. Again._

Growing impatient, Temari declared, "Well, if you won´t start, I will!" and rushed towards her opponent.

"Hey! I didn´t say 'go' yet!" the proctor lazily stated.

"I forgot… this girl´s a spunky one," Shikamaru said to himself, taking out two kunai in his right hand. "I hate spunky."

Temari leapt at her opponent and swung her folded fan like a hammer, a cloud of dust rising from the impact on the ground. When the dust cleared, it was shown that Shikamaru had thrown his kunai into the closest of the walls and used them as footholds.

"It really doesn´t make a whole difference whether I become a chunin or not," he said with a smirk on his face, "but I guess I shouldn´t let myself be beaten by a _female_. So, let´s do it."

Angered by the sexist remark, Temari swung her fully-opened fan at her opponent, creating a massive tornado. When it died down, Shikamaru was nowhere to be found, so she figured that he had snuck up behind her.

Hiding behind one of the trees, Shikamaru thought: _I know it´s not very classy for a guy to clobber a girl, who ever said I was classy?_

Spotting him, Temari readied her fan again. _Nice try, but I know what your game is,_ she thought as she remembered the lazy boy´s Shadow Possession Jutsu. _He´s trying to lure me to the shadow of that tree, but I´m not falling for that!_

The lazy boy looked up at the sky with a bored look. _Sometimes I wish I was a cloud, _he thought with a mental sigh. _Just floating… going along the breeze steadily… That´s my style… I´m just not into putting effort into stuff. The only reason I became a ninja was so I could do whatever I wanted. Geez… who knew it would be so much work?_

Having grown tired of waiting, Temari unleashed her attack. "Ninja Art: Wind Scythe Jutsu!" she roared and sent her deadly cyclone at Shikamaru, who shielded himself to both stay on his feet and avoid getting cut.

When the wind calmed down, a cloud of dust had consumed the lazy boy. Quick to notice the extended shadow that was moving towards her, Temari leaped backwards twice. When she thought that the shadow would catch her, she saw that it could not extend any further. As the shadow moved back to its master, Temari drew a line with her fan´s handle.

"Now I get it," she said as Shikamaru emerged from the dust cloud, hand-seals at the ready. "Almost got me... Aren´t you clever. With that Shadow Possession Jutsu of yours, you can manipulate any shadow you´re in. The wall´s shadow, for instance. But there´s a limit, isn´t there? No matter how thin you stretch it, it can only move so far. Isn´t that right?"

The lazy boy gave her a sheepish smirk. "You got me," he said.

Now that she knew how long that the shadow´s reach was, Temari only had to stay that far away and attack from a distance.

Shikamaru held his hands with each fingertip connecting with its corresponding fingertip, held his head downwards while closing his eyes, and knelt down.

Up among the audience, Kurenai and Asuma looked at the boy with interest. "What is that? A hand-seal?" the former of the two asked.

The teacher of Team 10 smirked and said, "It´s something more like a hermit."

"A hermit?" Kurenai asked curiously.

"That kid, he´s like an old man – he likes to take thing slowly. I mean, _really _slowly. That´s why he´s so good at games like Shogi… He´s always challenging me to a match. Whenever he gets stuck on a movement, he does that thing with his hands."

"What does it mean?" she asked.

He looked her in the eyes. "He´s working on a strategy," he answered. "All the times we´ve played, I´ve never beaten him."

Kurenai was slightly confused. "Well, that´s fine, but… this is a fight, not some game of Shogi."

"Strategy on a game board is no different from strategy on the field of battle, and all great generals know that. Shikamaru´s got the mind of a great general, just you watch."

She found that last statement very hard to believe. "I saw his test scores when we grouped the genin," she said. "His were no better than Naruto´s – maybe even worse."

Asuma took a puff of his cigarette. "He says the act of putting pencil to paper is such a drag and is too much work for him," he said. "He´d rather take a nap than a written exam. He might be lazy, but he is so good at strategy games, I made him take an IQ test. Of course, I had to deceive him into thinking it was just another game."

She was even more interested now. "Well? What happened?"

He took another puff. "As I suspected, his scores were almost off the charts, beyond 'genius'. The kid has an IQ of over 200."

Kurenai´s eyes widened. "T-Two hundred?" she gasped.

Asuma noticed that his student had opened his eyes again. _He´s done thinking! Now it begins…_

"So, you have some fighting spirit, after all," Temari said, readying her fan.

She swung her fan and created another cyclone. Being clever, Shikamaru dodged for cover behind one of the trees, despite the strong winds cutting the plants badly. When the wind died down, she saw two kunai being thrown at her and used her fan to block them. She then spotted the shadow moving towards her again, and at first she thought that it would not reach her, but then she saw that it somehow had gone longer! Quick to react, she leaped backwards to escape the shadow´s reach again.

Shikamaru stepped out of his hiding place, strangely without his jacket on his body. "You´re pretty quick on your toes!" he said.

"Now I see what you´ve been up to!" she snarled. "You weren´t just hiding, you were wasting time, waiting for the sun to get lower and the shadows to grow longer! The longer the shadows, the farther the range is, right?"

"Temari! Over your head!" Kankuro shouted in a warning voice.

The female sand ninja looked up and saw Shikamaru´s jacket tied to a kunai, somehow creating a makeshift balloon. And that balloon created a shadow, which formed right where the possessing shadow was at! Before the shadow grew longer, Temari leaped away as far as she could, repeatedly dodging the extended shadow. And as the balloon slowly descended down to the ground, the shadow got slightly longer. Unfortunately for Shikamaru, the balloon hit the ground, disconnecting the shadow´s extended form.

Losing time to act, Temari formulated her plan. She would hide behind her fan, make a clone Jutsu, make the clone act as a decoy for her opponent to use his shadow on, and then go in for the strike. She stuck her fully-open fan into the ground, made the hand-seals, and prepared to use the Jutsu…

…but then she felt immobilized, her body not reacting to what she wanted it to do. Shikamaru stood up and smirked. "It took a while, but I finally caught you," he said.

She wondered exactly how he was able to catch her in his shadow despite not being able to reach her. He then turned his head to look backwards, forcing her to do the same… and that was when she saw it. The shadow was going into one of the craters that were made in the previous fight and coming out of the hole that Naruto had popped out of to deliver the final blow to Neji!

_He always thinks three steps ahead of his opponents,_ Asuma thought with a smirk. _He manipulated her into moving closer and closer to the hole in order to capture her shadow from behind._

Shikamaru walked closer to his opponent, her doing the same, until they were three steps away from each other. He then raised his, and by extension her, right hand and said something that no one in the arena had expected: "Okay, that´s it. I give up."

Every living soul in the arena was struck dumb by that. After a minute of silence, the crowd both groaned in anger and booed at the lazy boy. "Please tell me he didn´t just give up!" Torabu groaned, smacking himself hard in the face in order to check if he was dreaming.

"I am afraid so…" Konran said in a stunned voice.

"What… what did you say?" Temari asked in a mixture of relief and shock.

"I used up all my chakra during the fight," Shikamaru explained. "I got ten seconds before I´m done and out. Bummer… and here I was preparing to execute the next two hundred moves in my head." His Jutsu lost the rest of its power, and Temari was released from her marionette state. "Anyway, if I _was _doing this thing, it would just mean more work."

_This guy is something else, _the proctor thought with an amused grin on his face. "The winner is… Temari!" he announced.

"Looks, like it´s you next, Torabu," Naruto said.

"Yeah…" the cat-boy nodded and glared at Dosu with his eyes narrowed.

The sound ninja, who had remained silent up to this point, swore, "What I attempted in the forest… I will execute now."

Now that the first three matches were over, how will it go for the other half? Who will win between Torabu and Dosu? Who will win between Sairento and Shino? And most importantly, will Sasuke be able to make it in time?

* * *

><p>dopliss: Alright, guys! This is the big mach! Place your bets on who will win!<p>

Mizuki: I bet all dopliss´s money on Dosu!

(Mizuki gets hammered)


	44. Chapter 44 Sound to deaf ears

**dopliss: Here comes one of the two original fights in the Chunin Exam! Mizuki, have you taken the bets?**

**Mizuki: (holding a big basket of money) You got it! Many have actually voted on Dosu to win, believe it or not.**

**dopliss: (curious) How many?**

**Mizuki: 77%.**

**Disclaimer: Bets closed! I don´t own Naruto! Let´s get ready to rumble!**

* * *

><p>As the two next competitors entered the arena, Sakura could not help but worry. "I hope this won´t be like last time…" she muttered to herself.<p>

Ino looked at her. "Last time?" she asked. "You mean in the forest?"

The pink-haired girl nodded. "He hardly lasted two minutes against those sound ninjas before he was knocked out. And with that guy´s mechanical, sound-manipulating device on his arm, this will be a very tough match for Torabu."

Ino frowned and looked back at the arena. "Yeah… I still remember how easily that guy took out Choji," she said. "It´s possible Torabu´s gonna lose."

"I wouldn´t bet on that."

Both girls, surprised by the new voice, turned their heads to see that someone had appeared out of nowhere in-between them. "Where did that cat come from?" the blonde asked.

Standing between the two seats was Fukigen, frowning as he looked at the arena. "I´m not a simple cat, little girl," he said, twirling his forked tail around. "And I can certainly tell you that the troublemaking brat will win this."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "How would you know?" she asked, somehow not shocked over the fact that a cat was talking in human language to her. But then again, she had seen a giant red turtle talking in human language before.

"Hasn´t he mentioned me before? Most specifically, about who taught him most of his techniques?"

It took the pink-haired girl a few seconds to think, and then she remembered. "Don´t tell me…" she whispered, looking sharply at the Bakeneko. "_You _are Torabu´s old sensei?"

"What?" the blonde gasped. "You mean to tell me a cat taught him his techniques?"

The tomcat glared at Ino. "I am a Bakeneko!" he hissed. "Would a simple cat stand on its hind-legs, talk Japanese, wear clothing, or even carry this around?" He stomped his stick into the floor two times.

Down in the arena, Torabu and Dosu glared at each other, muscles tensing. "The two of you may now begin the fight," the proctor stated.

"Go get him, Torabu!" Naruto shouted. "Kick his ass to the moon!"

"Your friend seems to have confidence in you," Dosu stated. "You know what I am capable of, so I suggest that you give up. After all, you remember the outcome in the Forest of Death, don´t you?"

The cat-boy nodded. "Yeah… yeah, I remember," he said calmly.

Before one second had passed after he had finished his sentence, the troublemaking ninja had run up to his opponent and punched him across the face, sending him flying back a few meters before landing on his feet. "Not so tough without your cronies around, are ya?" Torabu asked smugly.

The sound ninja rubbed his face with his left hand. "You will regret that soon… that I can assure you," he said, uncovering his sound device.

"Trying that lame trick again?" the cat-boy asked, preparing to make hand-seals. "Well, I also got a trick, but I can guarantee that it´s something you´ll never forget."

As Fukigen saw his student make the hand-seals while closing his eyes, he let a small smirk cross his lips. "So it begins…" he muttered to himself.

* * *

><p><em>Three days ago, outside in the forest, Torabu and Fukigen stood opposing each other. "So, what technique that would make me nigh-invulnerable did you have in mind?" the former of the two asked.<em>

_The Bakeneko twisted his tail around as he told, "The technique is one that affects the capabilities of the body. You can practically say this will create one of the most ultimate defenses ever."_

_The cat-boy nodded, curious._

"_But this technique comes with a temporary cost. You, however, will learn how to cope with the loss."_

_The troublemaking ninja cracked his knuckles. "Okay, how?" he asked._

_Letting his stick fall to the ground, the tomcat clasped his front paws together. "First, a demonstration of how this technique works," he said as he made hand-seals._

* * *

><p>When Torabu had finished the hand-seals, he opened his eyes to reveal that they shone light-green. "If you think you can take me on now, bring it," he goaded.<p>

"Brave last words…" Dosu muttered.

The sound ninja ran at full speed towards his opponent and struck with his right hand, but Torabu leapt backwards. The process repeated twice, until the cat-boy counterattacked with a spin-kick to Dosu´s face, sending him flying away.

Landing on his feet and rushing up to his opponent again, Dosu lashed out with his right arm again, but this time it was blocked by the troublemaking ninja´s left forearm. "Big mistake," the sound ninja said as he activated his Jutsu.

"Oh no!" Sakura gasped.

"Wait for it…" Fukigen stated.

As seconds passed by, Dosu realized that nothing had happened at all! Torabu pulled back his left arm and punched his shocked opponent in the face, sending him back a few feet. "Told ya that trick is lame," he smirked.

Standing up from his rough landing, Dosu stared in confusion at his opponent. "Why… why are you not in pain?" he asked. "My Jutsu should have pierced your inner ear!"

The Bakeneko chuckled lowly to himself. "Dosu must realize now he´s in trouble," he said.

Ino looked at the feline. "You know something about this?" she asked.

"Let the tailed brat answer that."

Torabu cracked his fingers. "You see, that Jutsu I used is a special one. It allows my reflexes to become super sharp. In fact, I don´t even have to move or do anything in order for my reflexes to work." He put his right index finger on his right temple. "But it has a cost, however; namely, the ability to use my senses."

"His senses?" Naruto repeated in wonder.

"Let´s say you use this technique, then you´ll have to give up your sense to smell, to feel – or, most preferable in this fight, to _hear_." Dosu winced when he heard that. "The more senses you give up, the sharper your reflexes become." Torabu stretched his arms. "And how many senses have I given up, you ask? _All_ of them!"

"WHAT?" Sakura exclaimed in shock. "He´s given up all his senses just to enhance his reflexes? Is he out of his mind?"

"_How_ is he even able to block off his senses?" Ino asked.

"Simple," Fukigen said. "The Jutsu is called the Double-Edged Counter Jutsu. Using his chakra, he has temporarily severed the brain´s connection to his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. In return, the brain focuses on what does work, and that is his reflexes."

"There must be a drawback to doing that!" the pink-haired girl said, hoping for an answer.

The cat looked to the side. "Well…" he muttered.

* * *

><p><em>Fukgen, currently in the middle of using the Jutsu, blocked, countered and kicked his student away from him and into a tree. "Come on, boy!" the tomcat goaded. "Prove to me you can think rationally!"<em>

_Torabu stood back up and growled, "You asked for it, damn cat!"_

_Summoning five Shadow Clones, they circled the Bakeneko from all sides. As they struck, the cat jumped into the air and blocked five of their fists with his legs and tail, but the last one had hit him in the head. After being slightly stunned by the hit, Fukigen was then struck with punches and kicks from all of the clones, ending up being kicked into the same tree from seconds before._

_As the clones disappeared, Torabu asked in a wisecracking tone, "Where´s your 'ultimate defense' now?"_

_Standing back up and canceling his Jutsu, the Bakeneko gave his student a small smirk. "Congratulations," he said. "You just found out this Jutsu´s one weakness."_

* * *

><p>"The reflexes only work well if you have enough vectors for your opponents," the feline told. "If you face too many, you can become overpowered and disoriented."<p>

Crossing his arms, Torabu asked, "So, Dosu, if a tree falls, and nobody´s around to hear it, does it still make a sound?"

The ironic question angered the sound ninja. "One way or another, I _will _make it past that defense of yours!" he swore.

Dosu ran towards his opponent again, and his strikes were all blocked to a superb degree. Ducking under a right punch, Torabu grabbed the arm and swung the sound ninja over him and into one of the walls. Recovering quickly, Dosu ran back over to the cat-boy and lashed out a kick, but the troublemaking ninja just jumped over it and kicked his opponent in the face, sending his staggering backwards.

_At this rate, I´ll lose!_ Dosu thought angrily. _There´s no way he can block or dodge attack _all_ the time. If I can get up behind him… then I can strike him and use the fluids in his body to damage his hearing!_

Sakura gasped when she saw Dosu pull out a smoke bomb and use it. "Oh no!" she said as Torabu was covered by the smoke and the sound ninja ran up so that he was behind the cat-boy. "He´ll be struck at a blind spot!"

"You´re finished!" Dosu roared as he ran towards his opponent and struck with his right arm.

A long silence reigned in the arena, everyone caught up in the excitement of the battle. As the smoke cleared, it was found out that Torabu had restrained Dosu´s hand by wrapping his tail around the wrist! Even the sound ninja was shocked. With a mighty spin of his body, the cat-boy´s tail let go of the wrist and flung his opponent away from him.

"Way to go, Torabu!" Naruto cheered excitedly.

"No way," Ino said. "There´s no possible way he could´ve seen that attack coming." She looked at Fukigen. "There is something up with that Jutsu, isn´t there?"

The cat sighed and looked up at the clouds. "Look upwards," he ordered.

The two girls did as they were told. "There´s only the sky up there, nothing else," Sakura stated.

"How about now?" The Bakeneko placed a claw on both of the girls´ temples.

Much to their shock, Sakura and Ino looked at the sky, which was now filled to the brim with giant green eyes! All of them were fixed on Dosu. "Why else do you think his eyes are glowing?" the tomcat asked as he removed his claws from the girls.

The blonde looked at the Bakeneko again. "I thought you said all his senses were blocked off?" she asked.

"They are. Those eyes in the sky are another trick with chakra that he uses. You see, it´s kinda like the Byakugan: a Jutsu that lets the user see in a 360 degree angle. By channeling chakra into his eyes, he is able to create invisible eyes that survey the area he´s currently in. He might not be able to see his opponent´s chakra points, but what does that matter when your reflexes are perfect?" He looked at the two girls, both having their mouths agape. "Any more questions?"

"Uh… yeah," Sakura said. "How did you allow us to see the eyes?"

"Simple: I am more powerful with my chakra than you can ever imagine."

"I also got a question," Ino stated. "Why haven´t he ended the fight yet?"

"The Jutsu is purely used for self-defense, but that´s only part of the reason. Figure out the rest by yourselves."

However, Naruto had already figured out why the fight took so long. _He´s stalling to give Sasuke some time!_

"Wow…" Konran muttered. "I never thought that Torabu could be this skillful. He is toying with Dosu."

Sairento just stared in silence at the fight. _Such a powerful technique… _she thought. _I wonder… If I win my fight against Shino, how will I fare against a defense like that?_

"You will not defeat me!" Dosu roared as he punched at his opponent again with his right arm.

Torabu dodged by sidestepping the sound ninja and raising his right leg up in the air. "I think it´s time to end this," he said.

In two seconds flat, the cat-boy stomped down on the mechanical device, and then sent a lot of chakra to his foot, creating a burst that destroyed the device into pieces! "NO! My Melody Arm!" Dosu screamed.

"Too bad, but it looks like your toy´s broken," Torabu said as he leapt backwards. "I think it´s time to end this."

Making a hand-seal, the cat-boy cancelled his Jutsu. He took a few seconds to readjust his returning senses. "Ah, there´s nothing quite like beautiful, un-tampered sound," he said with a smile. "Whaddya say, folks? Is it time to end this?"

The crowd roared in approving response. "Show him who´s boss, Torabu!" Sakura shouted.

"Give him the finishing blow!" Ino shouted.

"Show him not to mess with us Konoha rookies!" Naruto cheered.

"Send him back to his village in an ambulance!" Konran shouted.

Sairento just gave her teammate a 'thumbs-up', not caring if he saw it or not.

The troublemaking ninja chuckled to himself. "Okay, if the fans demand it…" he said, turning his focus back to his opponent, "then I´ll execute their demand!"

Dosu, completely defenseless, started to run away from his opponent, but to no avail. Within seconds, Torabu summoned his Chakra Claws, ran at full speed towards his opponent, and then leapt into the air and spinning around in a spiral, his claws facing outwards!

"Neko Style: Wildcat Vortex!"

Dosu was caught in the attack and pushed off his feet. As Torabu made a U-turn, the sound ninja got repeatedly cut across his body by the claws. When they approached one of the walls, the cat-boy stopped spinning once they were close enough and instead curled into a ball and rolled midair. Then, to finish his opponent off, he stomped both of his feet into Dosu´s face at the exact moment the sound ninja collided with the wall!

Using his opponent as a foothold, Torabu leapt off and landed on the ground perfectly. Giving the audience a 'thumbs-up', he grinned and said, "I´ve been deaf this whole battle, so let´s make some noise, people!"

Once that was said, the crowd delivered a massive applause and cheer for the troublemaking ninja. The cat-boy appealed to the audience as he heard compliments and praise.

Having checked Dosu over, the proctor announced, "Winner: Torabu Maka!"

Clapping for her friend, Sakura stated, "I never thought he could do it, but Torabu sure proved me wrong!"

"Yeah!" Ino agreed. "I never thought he´d make it this far!"

Looking between their seats, the girls found Fukigen to be missing. The Bakeneko had retreated to outside of the arena, looking on from the Hokage Stone Faces. _Torabu… you´ve grown a lot and learned a lot since I last saw you,_ he thought with a small smile on his lips. _I´m sure you´ll become great in the future._

When Torabu rejoined the other finalists at the alcove, he gave Naruto a high five. "Awesome job, Torabu!" the orange-clad boy congratulated. "But that last attack looked like the one Kiba used against me, though."

The cat-boy tilted his head in confusion. "Really?" he asked. "I didn´t see him use it against you."

"What?"

Shrugging, the troublemaking ninja said, "I lost consciousness when Akamaru turned into a Kiba clone."

"Blame Sakura for that," Sairento said as she glared at Shino. _So, my insect-loving opponent… let´s see who of us is the better fighter._

Will Sasuke arrive in time for his next battle? Will Sairento prove victorious over her opponent? Or will Shino and his insects be the mute girl superior?

* * *

><p>dopliss: Short chapter, I know, but Dosu´s not very powerful a ninja.<p>

(Mizuki gets chased by an angry mob)

Mizuki: HEY! It´s your own fault for voting on Dosu!

Mob: You said he had the upper hand!

Mizuki: I say a lot of crap, but it doesn´t mean it´s true!


	45. Chapter 45 Bugs and monsters

**dopliss: Nobody took any bets for this fight, Mizuki?**

**Mizuki: (horribly beaten) Well… twenty people have betted all their money on Sairento to win.**

**dopliss: Then you better hope she´ll win!**

**Disclaimer: Check the last 44 chapters. They all say the same about my connection to Naruto.**

**A/n: Okay, to be frank, I don´t remember many of Shino´s attacks, so I´ll just use the ones he has in the Ultimate Ninja Storm games. So, sorry if I disappoint any of you (god, this is just like the first fifteen chapters).**

* * *

><p>"Good luck with your match," Konran said to Sairento as she and Shino walked down to the arena.<p>

"Man, this fight ain´t one to expect much talking from," Torabu yawned. "Those two aren´t known for talking very much."

"Gotta agree to you there," Naruto nodded.

Up among the audience sat Sairento´s parents, Kanashii and Hadona. "So… it´s finally our daughters turn," the latter of the two said.

"Indeed," the woman agreed. "She´s been obsessed on training and winning this… I wish the best for her."

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?"

Both parents turned to their right and saw Takai. "Not at all," Kanashii said with a smile. "Please have a seat."

Sitting down, the fiery female looked on at the two competitors with much interest in her eyes. "So, Sai´s gonna fight now, huh?" she asked.

His curiosity piqued, Hadona asked, "How do you know our daughter?"

"We met in the Land of Waves. I was their enemy at first, but now I live here together with her teammate."

"Which one?" the woman asked.

Takai put both of her index fingers and middle fingers on her head, shaping two triangles. "You know, the feline one," she said.

"Ah yes… the one who fought earlier," the man nodded. "His skills were interesting to behold."

"Can´t deny that," the fiery female laughed.

"The two of you may now begin fighting," the proctor said, giving the two opponents space.

"I know full well of what you´re capable of," Shino stated. "Your healing powers might let you fight longer… but my friends and I will prove a much too difficult challenge for you."

"I got a few more surprises in store," Sairento said.

The mute girl dropped a smoke bomb on the ground, obscuring her opponent´s vision. Shino leapt backwards and away from the smoke, and then he saw his opponent exiting it as well. He took a kunai and threw it at her, but she dodged it and ran towards him. Once close enough, she drew a kunai out of her right pocket and swung wildly at him, but he managed to dodge several of the slashes. He then grabbed hold of her right arm with his left and delivered a punch to her masked face. After two more punches, the mute girl broke free from his grasp and leapt backwards. She then held her left hand on her mask and used her Healing Hands technique.

"Man, is it me, or… is Sai´s fighting style a bit more aggressive than usual?" the cat-boy asked.

"Come to think of it… you got a point," Konran agreed. "Strange… this is not like her at all."

Kanashii looked at her husband. "Hadona, do you think…?" she asked.

"Yeah… I think she has," he replied.

Takai raised an eyebrow when she overheard the two. "Um… what´s going on?" she asked.

As the fiery female´s question was left unanswered, Sairento had finished healing herself. "Why don´t you bring out your little friends to play?" she asked.

"You will regret asking for them," Shino said coolly.

He held out his right hand, and several dozens of rhinoceros beetles crawled out of his sleeve. "He must´ve used a Summoning Jutsu to make them appear," Naruto figured.

The beetles spread out their wings and flew towards their master´s opponent. Reacting quickly, the mute girl leapt away from the insects as they closed in on her. She took out some shuriken and threw them at the insects, which flew around the projectiles. Meanwhile, Shino was charging his chakra.

When Sairento was backed up against one of the walls, the beetles had her trapped. They flew over to her, landed on her body…

…and did absolutely nothing whatsoever. "Are you toying with me?" the mute girl asked in an annoyed tone. "Your beetles aren´t doing anything to me."

"To answer your question: yes, I am toying with you," Shino replied. "Those rhinoceros beetles don´t attack you because they _can´t _attack at all. They might be one of the biggest insects in the world, but they can neither bite nor sting."

She clenched her fists in anger. "You tricked me…!"

"And here is the real attack." Shino held out both of his arms, and then hundreds upon hundreds of hornets the size of a human thumb flew out of his sleeves. "It might interest you to know that these giant hornets contain a venom so powerful, it can kill a grown man," he said. "The sensation of the sting will feel like a hot nail through your flesh."

"Thanks for the biology lesson," Sairento remarked.

"I give you this one chance to give up… or else I´ll unleash my friends upon you."

The mute girl just goaded him with her right hand. Shino sent the hornets flying towards her, and the insects buzzed furiously as they approached.

In a flash, Sairento had sliced through all of the beetles and hornets with her fingers, and the insects fell apart as their blood splattered on her body! Shino´s eyes widened behind his shades, but they widened even more when he felt a kunai held at his throat. The one holding the weapon was another Sairento!

"This is where you get exterminated, bug-boy," she said.

"W-W-What the hell just happened?" Takai exclaimed in shock.

"Looks like she indeed has mastered that technique," Hadona stated.

"I fret for that poor boy," Kanashii shuddered.

The fiery female looked at the two. "Okay, one of you two need to explain this to me," she demanded. "Where did that clone come from?"

"The one holding a kunai at Shino´s throat is the real Sairento," the man explained. "The other one is a special clone, however."

"Special?" Takai repeated. "Special how?"

The woman folded her hands together. "That technique is called the Ghost Mask Jutsu," she said. "It allows the user to create a being known as a Wraith and shape it to look like oneself. The Wraith has the exact same strengths and Jutsus as the creator, but with shape-shifting abilities."

"Wow…" Takai said in awe. "But, doesn´t that cost a lot of chakra to maintain?"

"It does… so that´s why the user must refrain from using any chakra unless he or she wants the Wraith to disappear. Furthermore, the Wraith´s fighting style is a polar opposite of the creator´s."

The fiery female nodded. "So, where Sai is calm and collected…"

"…the Wraith is brutal and ruthless, yes," Hadona finished, looking grim.

The Wraith´s mask broke apart, the pieces falling down on the ground. What appeared underneath the mask was truly monstrous. Total darkness covered the face, the darkness only broken by big yellow eyes and a huge, maniacal grin with big and sharp teeth!

"This is the end for you," Sairento said.

The Wraith´s fingertips lengthened and turned into kunai! It then ran towards its target, reeling its newly-gained claws back. Shino then whacked the kunai away from his throat, leapt towards the Wraith, landed on its head, and leaped over to where the Wraith once stood. He knelt down and touched the insect blood and severed bodies. "You have made a bad choice by killing my friends," he said with little to no emotion in his voice. Standing back up, he swore, "You will pay for what you have done."

Shino ran towards his opponent, the Wraith running towards him in return. Dodging several swipes from its claws, Shino leapt over it and ran towards Sairento. He threw a punch at her, which she blocked with her left hand. She swung her kunai at him, but he dodged the slashes. Avoiding another slash, he then took out his own kunai and stabbed her in the arm. She leapt backwards, pulled the kunai out, and healed the wound.

Shino turned back to look at the Wraith and saw that its right arm was becoming pale. "If you keep up this fight, your chakra will disappear along with that demon," he pointed out.

"Then we will finish it now!" the mute girl swore.

Sairento and the Wraith both ran up to their opponent and began attacking. As the slashes from the kunai and claws became faster and faster, Shino had more and more difficult in dodging them, growing exhausted for each time he dodged. And that was when the Wraith impaled both of its claws into Shino´s chest, followed by Sairento jamming her kunai into his neck!

Everyone watching sat in silence at the possible death of one of the competitors. "What the hell are you doing, Sai?" Torabu screamed in outrage. "You can´t just kill him like that!"

"You´re a murderer!" Naruto shouted.

"I don´t care… I have won," the mute girl stated.

"Oh my god…!" Takai gasped. "This is… horrible!"

Hadona closed his eyes. "I´m ashamed of what levels my daughter would sink to just so that she can win a fight…" he said.

Kanashii then noticed something odd. "Hey, what´s happening to Shino´s body?" she asked.

The places where Shino had been stabbed and impaled suddenly broke apart, revealing hundreds upon hundreds of insects! "What?" Sairento gasped as the bugs spread around her and the Wraith, surrounding both.

Shino then emerged from out of the nearby bushes. "My trump card… has been played," he said.

The mute girl then realized it. "You little…!" she swore. "You made a clone of yourself with the bugs while I created the Wraith!"

"And I transformed myself into a kunai when you used the smoke bomb." He readjusted his glasses. "Now… it is payback time."

Raising his left hand, Shino made his insects create a tornado! As both Sairento and the Wraith were caught and forced into the air, neither of the two could do anything.

"No matter how puny a bug you are… I won´t underestimate you," Shino said as he walked into the tornado. Using another cluster of his beetles, he sent them towards his opponent and made them crush her like a walnut in a strong fist! "Parasitic Insects! Pupa!" he cried as the tornado dissolved.

Sairento was still alive and whole, but her body revealed many cuts and bites as it flew towards the ground and crashed into one of the walls. The Wraith screamed in a high-pitched tone as it disappeared into nothing.

The proctor walked over to the mute girl and checked her body. After having seen that she was unconscious, he declared, "Winner: Shino Aburame!"

The crowd was silent for a moment, but then they cheered and applauded wildly. Shouts of "Way to go!" and "Awesomely done!" and "What a fantastic match!" were heard from the audience.

"Looks like Sai learned a lesson," Torabu said as he clapped.

"And what lesson would that be?" Konran asked.

"Something about not being so obsessed on winning that you´d do whatever is necessary."

"Looks like she couldn´t beat him, after all," Takai stated as she applauded.

"Our girl just has to live with the losses life often brings," Hadona said.

"Indeed," Kanashii agreed. "Failures are just experience to us humans. I hope she´ll learn that one day."

* * *

><p>A little later in a room in the arena, Sairento woke up and sat up in her bed. The hospital ninjas had fully healed her body. Yet, despite that fact, her mind was raging.<p>

_How could I lose?_ _I had mastered that technique to its perfection! I thought I had him… and then he threw me a curveball and took me out in one hit!_

She took out a kunai and stabbed her left arm near the shoulder, then pulled it through her flesh until it reached her wrist! She then pulled it out and healed her self-inflicted wound.

_Never!_ she swore in her mind. _Never shall I become like my mother! I WILL become a high-ranking ninja, even if it may take me years!_

All other fights have been held. Now that there is only one remaining, will Sasuke be able to get there in time? And if he does, what will the outcome be?

* * *

><p>dopliss: Once again, this was a short chapter, but no more of those for a while!<p>

(Mizuki gets carried away by a mob of pissed betters)

Mob: Burn him at the stake! Burn him at the stake!

Mizuki: NOOOOOOOOOOO!


	46. Chapter 46 The awaited battle

**(Mizuki is crucified and in the middle of a bonfire)**

**Angry mob: Burn him! Burn him!**

**Mizuki: No! Don´t kill me! I´ll pay you back a thousand-fold!**

**(dopliss arrives on the scene, dressed in a red cape)**

**dopliss: (overdramatically) I´ll save you, Mizuki!**

**(dopliss cracks fingers and shoots fireworks out of his fingertips, killing the mob)**

**(dopliss frees Mizuki and flies him over to the fridge)**

**Mizuki: (breathing heavily) Thanks… but what´s with the cape?**

**dopliss: What, can´t I be dramatic at times?**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. Superman says so.**

* * *

><p>As the crowd quieted down after the match, two of the examiner ninjas were talking together about the first round´s matches. "Some of these kids don´t understand there´s not much point in completing a mission if the whole team´s wiped out," one of them stated. "That´s not what being a chunin is about."<p>

"If you score them on that, Naruto and Neji failed the test," the other replied. "Not that they don´t have talent… for genin. Still, I can´t help but feel Shikamaru gave up too soon. Torabu had his opponent on the ropes this whole time, anticipating his every move. And Sairento and Shino kept changing the upper hand." He looked at his friend, a smirk on his lips. "What do you think?"

"Well, one thing I´m sure of… Shikamaru and Torabu´s got the best chances."

"At last! This is the one we´ve been waiting for!" one member of the audience said.

"Uchiha´s next!" another cried.

"Yeah, but who´s this Gaara guy he´s up against?" a third asked.

"Don´t know, he´s a mystery," the second replied. "But he doesn´t stand a chance against the Uchiha kid!"

"Don´t get too excited. I heard that Sasuke Uchiha had to pull out of the match."

"What?" the first one asked in outrage. "No way!"

"They say he´s still injured from some accident that happened in training."

"That´s perfect!" the second one groaned sarcastically. "So you´re saying I came ALL this way, and it´s two days of work for nothing?"

As more roars from the crowd about wanting to see Sasuke in action, some of the nobles looked at a charter with the two upcoming competitors´ profiles on it. "Well, it seems fairly clear this Uchiha´s bound to win," one of them said.

"I wouldn´t be so sure," another replied. "I´d like to look at this stranger from the sand village. I´m putting my money on the mystery man."

The first noble laughed heartily. "That´s the thing about this level of competition: the only thing you know for sure is that you never know what will happen."

As the crowd got angrier and angrier, the jonin next to the Hokage whispered into his ear, "Lord Hokage, I´m afraid there´s still no sign of Sasuke Uchiha. He hasn´t arrived at the arena."

"Right," the old man agreed. "Then we have no choice. We just have to proceed. We´ve kept these good people wait long enough."

"…Ten more minutes."

Both the Hokage and the jonin looked at the Kazekage in surprise. "Surely we can give him another ten minutes," the leader of the sand village said. "This is what the crowd´s been waiting for. It would be a cruel blow to cancel it – it might even turn ugly. After waiting this long, surely another ten minutes won´t hurt."

The leader of Konoha considered this carefully. "There´s something in what Lord Kazekage says, I must admit," he said. "Very well, then. We´ll give Sasuke another ten minutes to appear before cancelling the match." He looked at the jonin. "Go. Tell Genma my decision."

As the proctor, Genma, was told the message, he declared to the audience that they would wait for ten more minutes.

"Man, where is Sasuke?" Torabu asked.

"He might end up being late," Konran replied.

The cat-boy smiled at his teammate. "Whaddya say we go look for him and bring him here?" he proposed.

The blue-haired boy stretched his arms. "I think I got enough power for that."

As the two members of Team 6 left the arena, Naruto grumbled to himself, "If he doesn´t get here, I´ll kill him." Sasuke had said that he wanted to face Naruto in combat, and the orange-clad boy wanted to make sure that that was going to happen.

At the main entrance of the arena, two Konoha jonin saw two people approach them – one a grown man, and the other a boy. "Welcome! Glad you both could make it!" one of them greeted.

"Yeah, what a surprise!" the other said. "Go right in!"

The two people were sadly not Sasuke and Kakashi, but instead Rock Lee, with a crutch to keep himself up, and Guy. "Roger!" the bushy-browed boy saluted.

The older of the two exercise enthusiasts looked at his protégé. "Well, Lee, ready to go?" he asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"You missed most of the first rounds," one of the jonins at the entrance said. "The only match left is Sasuke Uchiha vs. that Gaara kid."

Lee gasped in shock. "But, what happened to Naruto and Neji?" he asked.

"Well, that was the most amazing thing," the other jonin said, smiling proudly. "The Hyuga kid actually got beat!"

Lee´s eyes widened as much as they possibly could. _Naruto… beat Neji…?_ A smirk crept up on his lips. "That is something," he said, looking up at the sky. _Well done, Naruto! Congratulations!_

Guy could see the respect in his protégé´s eyes and smiled. _Lee will always be a winner where it counts… in his heart._

As his sister rejoined him on the alcove, Kankuro asked, "Hey, Temari, what´s up? Is he really gonna quit the match?"

"…He´ll be here…" Gaara answered emotionlessly. "He´ll definitely be here."

Hearing the booing crowd, Naruto muttered, "Man, this crowd will tear him apart if he doesn´t show. And if _they_ don´t, _I _will."

Genma looked at his pocket watch. There were thirty seconds left of the ten minutes. And then, when those seconds passed, he announced to the audience, "Alright! The time limit has expired, so I´m officially calling this match—"

It felt as if time stood still for a moment. And then, all of a sudden, two people appeared from out of nowhere right next to the proctor. And those two were none other than Sasuke and Kakashi. They made it!

The Uchiha´s outfit had changed, along with his hair growing a little longer. He now wore a black one-pieced version of his normal outfit. He had also gotten rid of the arm warmers, and instead got several belts around both legs and the left arm.

"Sorry we´re late," Kakashi apologized jokingly. "You wouldn´t believe the traffic."

"And you are?" Genma asked the boy.

The Uchiha looked at the proctor and introduced himself. "I´m Sasuke Uchiha," he said.

The crowd exploded in a cheer. Finally the match that they had all waited for would commence.

"Huh? So you decided to show up after all?" Naruto smugly asked his rival from a distance. "I was betting you wouldn´t come, ´cause sooner or later you would have to face me!"

Shikamaru sighed. _Naruto was just saying how he was sure Sasuke would come…_ he groaned mentally.

Sasuke smirked to his rival. "So, what about you?" he asked. "Did you win?"

"You know it!"

The smirk on the Uchiha´s lips grew slightly bigger. "Heh. Well, don´t get too full of yourself," he said. "You´re still a loser."

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Sorry we kept you waiting, but, err… I mean, it´s not like Sasuke is… disqualified or anything… right?"

"Like master, like pupil – even down to your lousy sense of time," Genma groaned. "You know, you were so late that we extended the time limit for you – twice, in fact. And it´s lucky for you we did, because you just made it. So no, he´s not disqualified."

"Oh, that's a relief!" Kakashi chuckled. "You had me worried there for a minute."

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, looking at his rival with a very serious and stern look. "Don´t lose… ´cause I wanna fight you myself!"

Sasuke looked stoically back at the orange-clad boy. "Got it," he replied.

"Sakura," Ino began, "what´s it like to be on such an amazing team?"

The pink-haired girl looked back at the blonde. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"You know, first Naruto surprises everyone by beating Neji Hyuga, and then you´ve got Sasuke, who´s like a superstar! Everyone wants to see his match. You´re like an all-star team!"

Rock Lee, who was now sitting among the audience, looked long and hard at the Uchiha. _Sasuke´s fighting that sand ninja, Gaara… one who I was powerless against, _he thought. _And Naruto won against Neji, who I´d always wanted to defeat. _He clenched his injured hand, causing blood to escape from the knuckles. _And all I get to do… is stand here and watch. It´s so frustrating!_

Guy could see his student tremble in both anger and sadness.

Gaara smiled in his eerie fashion when he was told to enter the arena. He wheezed in excitement as he walked down the stairs from the alcove. But on his way down, he was intercepted by two men.

"You puny kids think this tournament´s about you, but it´s really about the ones who bet on you," one of the men said. "Or against you, in your case. You see, our master´s got a lot of money on the other guy to win."

"Got it?" the other asked. "That means you better lose."

"Well? So what´s it gotta be, kid?"

As Gaara did nothing at all, the other man said, "Maybe this kid´s too scared to talk."

Gaara´s face became a creepy smile as his sand gushed out of his gourd. One of the men screamed in terror as the sand grabbed him and crushed his entire being into nothingness! The other man tried to run away from the young murderer, but his fate was also sealed as the sand caught him and pulled him to his end. As the redhead´s bloodlust subsided, he slowly walked onwards and into the arena, stopping right in front of his opponent.

"Alright, the rules for this match are the same as in the preliminaries," Genma told the two competitors, but mostly Sasuke. "The match continues until one of you dies or admits defeat. However, I can stop the match, but that´s solely my decision."

Gaara chuckled evilly upon hearing this.

Up at where Rock Lee and his sensei were, Kakashi had left the arena and joined the two. "Hello, Guy," he greeted, as casual as ever. "How are you feeling, Lee? Are you all right?"

Guy turned to look at his rival and smirked. "Kakashi…" he greeted.

Kakashi then noticed Sakura, who was looking at him with concern. "Oh, sorry about that," he apologized to her. "Sorry for not keeping in touch."

The pink-haired girl looked away from her sensei and back at the arena. "…I don´t mind… It´s okay," she said in a monotone voice. After a little silence, she then said, "Listen, Sensei. You know there´s a mark on Sasuke´s neck, right? Well, is it…?"

"It´s nothing to worry about," Kakashi replied. After giving her a reassuring smile, the sensei had cheered up his student.

He then looked around and spotted several ANBU people sitting among the audience. "Eight?" he asked silently. "Eight members of the ANBU black ops in an arena this size… isn´t anywhere near enough. What could Lord Hokage be thinking?"

"Well," Guy started, "not knowing how the enemy´s going to act, they have probably be stationed around to keep an eye out for the village." He looked seriously at his rival. "It´s starting. We can´t afford to let our guard down. But for now, at least, we need to watch this match."

Guy then smiled and closed his eyes. "Kakashi… I´m gonna keep a very close eye on your pupil… to see if your training was any good." He opened his eyes again and flashed a smile. "After all, I´m still your rival."

"I´m sorry, did you say something?" Kakashi asked, having ignored the last statements on purpose, much to his rival´s irritation.

The fight was declared to begin. Gaara let his sand flow out of the gourd and into the air, but then he felt a sharp headache and held his head in pain. "Please… I beg you… don´t get so mad at me…!" he wheezed to himself. "…Mother…"

A little freaked out, Sasuke wondered what his opponent was talking about.

"Earlier, I… I know… I made you taste such awful blood… I´m so sorry… But this time… I´m sure… that it will taste so very good…!"

"His conversation has started already," Kankuro said in fear. "This is dangerous."

"I know," Temari agreed. "This is the first time I´ve seen Gaara like that before fighting. That´s how powerful an opponent Sasuke is."

Gaara´s headache disappeared as his sand landed around his feet. After having calmed down a little, he looked at his opponent with his normal, stoic expression and said, "Come on…"

Sasuke threw two kunai at his opponent, but the sand blocked the attack and took the shape of its master. It then blasted a big chunk of sand at its target, but Sasuke jumped away from it just in time. The clone of Gaara then threw the shuriken back at their sender, and Sasuke countered with two more shuriken, the projectiles colliding. Sasuke then got up close to the clone and spin-kicked its arms off, followed by backhanding it in the neck. The latter move was a bad idea, though, as the sand closed around the wrist and restrained its opponent.

Sasuke retaliated by punching the clone´s head off, thereby dissolving the rest of it back into sand. He then charged towards the redhead, but before he could deliver a punch to his face, the sand quickly rose up to defend its master. Sasuke, however, smirked and threw his opponent a curveball.

In a flash, Sasuke disappeared from Gaara´s sight and reappeared behind him! _He´s fast… just like that other guy!_ Gaara mentally gasped, remembering his battle with Rock Lee.

Sasuke then threw the intended punch and hit Gaara´s left cheek, sending him flying a few feet backwards before landing, just like Lee did. As the redhead got back up, the Uchiha noticed the cracks made from the fist´s impact.

"So that´s your Sand Armor, huh?" Sasuke asked, goading his opponent with his fingers. "Come on!"

Kiba, having taken Hinata to a place where she could rest, walked up to the one who had helped her. "Hey! Thanks for the help, ANBU guy," he thanked. "So, it looks like Hinata´s gonna make a full recovery, if she can get some rest."

"Oh? Is that right?" the ANBU man asked.

Akamaru suddenly barked aggressively at the man, much to his owner´s confusion. "What? You know this guy?" the canine boy asked. "Come on, there´s no way you could. He´s an ANBU black op."

The dog kept barking.

"Hold on a sec," Kiba said. "I don´t get it, what´re you talking about? At the examination…?"

The ANBU man faced the canine boy and held out a hand that glowed with light-green chakra. "_This_ is what he is talking about," the man said. And with a slight tap on his chest, Kiba fell unconscious.

Sasuke got tired of waiting for his opponent to make a move, and then roared, "If you won´t do it, then _I _will!"

Sasuke ran towards Gaara with his full speed, and before the sand could react, the Uchiha moved behind the redhead and kicked him in the face, sending him flying a few feet away again.

"What´s the matter, Gaara? Is that all you got?" Sasuke taunted. "I´m going to tear off all your armor!"

As Gaara made a circle of sand around him, Sasuke ran in circles around him in order to create confusion. The Uchiha then saw an opening and slid under the sand, kneed his opponent in the face, and then kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying once again.

The two boys were now panting. While Gaara was exhausted from maintaining his shield, Sasuke was tired from running so fast.

"His training… what did you two do?" Guy asked Kakashi. "To get to such a level… in a mere month…"

"Sasuke has copied Lee´s Taijutsu with his Sharingan," the masked jonin explained. "So during the Taijutsu training I did with Sasuke, I simply had him imagine Lee´s movement and copy it. Sasuke mastered that Taijutsu only because he knew Lee. Of course, he had to work very hard to master it, even with his Sharingan."

Lee, however, was concerned. _But, that sand ninja… he´s too tough for that. He cannot be taken down only with that Taijutsu._

Guy also wondered how Sasuke would be able to win by mastering Taijutsu, especially considering that Lee´s Hidden Lotus attack was blocked.

Gaara then made a hand-seal, and then his sand closed around him like a cocoon. Sasuke ran up to his opponent and tried to punch the shield, but it countered by extending several spikes towards him, with none of them hitting him, thankfully. Though, a cut was made on both Sasuke´s right cheek and his fist. He leaped back and saw the spikes retract into the shield.

_Because of the sand´s density, I didn´t think he could create something this hard, _Sasuke thought. "He´s absolutely protected."

Kankuro, meanwhile, was staring at his brother in horror. _He´s not gonna… use _that _Jutsu, is he?_

Naruto and Shikamaru remembered something about their encounter with Gaara in the hospital, and they both ran out of the alcove and up to the audience where Kakashi was. "Sensei, please!" the orange-clad boy panted. "You got to stop this match right now!"

"What?" Kakashi asked.

"The guy Sasuke´s fighting is completely different than the rest of us! He´s about as far from normal as you can get!"

"Slow down, Naruto," Kakashi said. "Tell me your reason."

"He thinks his point in life is to kill people! Don´t you see? If this continues, Sasuke will die!"

Inside of the shield, Gaara chanted a Jutsu and created an eye of sand outside of the shield, watching his opponent.

Temari was horrified beyond belief. _This is bad,_ she thought. _Gaara isn´t even thinking about our plan at all!_

Even though his student was pleading, Kakashi remained calm. "Relax… no need to panic," he said. "You know, Sasuke and I weren´t just goofing around. There´s a reason we were so late getting here."

As Sasuke wiped the blood off his cheek, he activated his Sharingan. With a battle cry, he ran towards the shield and threw three kunai at it, which bounced off the sand. With his speed, he then appeared behind the shield, dodged the spikes, and punched it before leaping backwards. He then avoided the many spikes that attacked him, jumped on top of the shield, and then quickly leapt away before the spikes could get him.

_Well, that might work, _Sasuke thought with a smirk on his lips. _I don´t know what you´re up to… You gonna stay in there forever? Well, that´s fine with me. Stall all you want. I can use the time to ready what I got in store for you!_

"Since you were so late, what were you doing?" Sakura asked her sensei.

"Oh, it´s… kind of a long story," Kakashi replied.

"Oh, come on!" Naruto complained impatiently. "Will you please speed things up? It´s time for action!"

"You´re right, so shut up and watch." Kakashi motioned his friends´ attentions towards the Uchiha. "Take a close look at Sasuke, for he´s about to surprise you."

Sasuke made a few back-flips, and then he jumped up and stuck on to the most nearby wall´s top. He then made hand-seals and held his hand downwards.

Meanwhile, inside the shield, Gaara giggled to himself. "Are you ready?" he asked. "I´m gonna open it now. I´m going to rip it open so I can get it all out. Everything inside will come spilling out… lots and lots of it… and I´ll give it all to you. I´m such a good boy, aren't I? Are you watching, Mother? Are you ready? I´m ready."

Sasuke grunted as electricity gathered it into an orb in his left hand, just like it did with Kakashi! Also, somehow, the chirping of birds could be heard from the orb of electricity.

"If you wondered why I insisted on training Sasuke myself, now you know," Kakashi said. "It´s because he´s like me."

"I see!" Guy realized. "You were building his speed up to a level required."

"Exactly!" the masked jonin smiled.

Sasuke reeled back the orb of electricity and ran down the wall, his speed increasing with every second. When he was at the ground, he leapt off the wall and towards his opponent.

"This is the one Jutsu that Kakashi never copied," Guy explained. "It´s the number one choice for assassination. The secret of the technique is the speed to build it up and the release of chakra at the point of impact. Once these two elements, speed and focus, have attained a certain level, the chakra becomes visible and makes noises. It is these sounds that give the technique its name: Chidori! One Thousand Birds!"

Sasuke ran up to the shield, avoided the spikes, and thrust his left hand into the sand, breaking through it!

"It is also called 'Lightning Blade'," Guy said, "because Kakashi likes to cut a lightning in half. But no matter what it´s called, it´s a technique of unimaginable power, requiring almost inhuman levels of both speed and chakra. But once mastered, it transforms a ninja´s arm into a powerful and indestructible sword. This is a technique that is not to be taught lightly."

"Yeah, you´re one to talk," Kakashi muttered, "right, Lee?"

Inside of the shield, Sasuke´s hand was pushed right into Gaara´s left shoulder. And the redhead felt something that he had never ever felt before. "What is it?" he asked. "It´s so warm and wet… Mother… what is it?" He then saw a crimson drop hit his left hand, and he let out an ear-piercing scream of pain as a result. "_**BLOOD! IT´S MY BLOOOOOOD!**_"

Sasuke then felt pain himself, and even though he tried to use more electricity to pull out, he was pushed away by a large, clawed arm that was colored sandy-brown and with purple lines across it!

"Is that thing taking over again?" Kankuro asked in fear as the weird arm retracted back into the shield.

"I don´t know!" Temari replied, equally as scared as her brother. "This has never happened before! I think he´s hurt!"

Kankuro shivered, almost at the edge of panicking. _I remember the first time I saw that thing… it was… horrible!_

Sasuke could hear a demonic growling coming from inside the shield, and then he saw, through the hole that he had made, an eye glare back at him. He was frozen in absolute shock as he heard a shriek of an inhuman being resonate throughout the arena.

The shield then cracked and dissolved into sand, and Gaara emerged from it, wheezing in pain, his left arm hanging limply and his right holding his bleeding left shoulder.

The ANBU man that knocked Kiba out made a hand-seal, and then everyone in the audience began feeling sleepy. They saw feathers falling from the sky as their eyelids grew heavy. The jonins and Sakura, quickly realizing what was going on, made hand-seals and repelled the effects of the Jutsu.

Baki looked around at the sleepy audience. _So, Kabuto has made his move, huh?_ he thought. _That must mean the time is close._

The Kages were unaffected by the Jutsu, and the Kazekage looked knowingly at the other leader. "So…" he said, "shall we begin?"

* * *

><p>"We didn´t find Sasuke…" Torabu pouted, his ears laying flat against his head.<p>

"I guess that means he is disqualified," Konran sighed.

The cat-boy´s ears perked up. "And that means Naruto´s up against that sand guy!" he said, unbeknownst of what really transpired.

Just then, both boys heard an explosion coming from the arena. Outside of Konoha, hundreds of sound ninjas were leaping towards the village gates. Sand jonin sat outside of the village walls in front of a giant summoning circle. And ANBU ran around like crazy.

Hell had broken loose.

* * *

><p>dopliss: Finally we get a long chapter again!<p>

Mizuki: And it´s one where I don´t get beaten up badly.

dopliss: You know, you can say whatever you want about this story, but it´s a hell of a lot better than "NARUTO: VEANGANCE REVELAITONS". Damn, that story sucks!


	47. Chapter 47 Chaos breaks loose

**dopliss: Now begins the multi-sequential action scenes!**

**Mizuki: I don´t care. I want my screen time in the show back…**

**dopliss: You got screen time every chapter! Actually, it´s your fault for leaving from chapter 34 – 41!**

**Disclaimer: Raise your hands if I own Naruto. C´mon, I dare ya.**

* * *

><p>Torabu and Konran looked around in confusion. "What is going on?" the latter of the two asked loudly.<p>

"Whatever it is, it spells bad news," the cat-boy replied. He then looked at the arena and saw a cloud of smoke surround the Kages´ platform. "What´s going on over there?" he silently asked himself.

In the arena, chaos was unfurling. Several squads of ANBU agents were leaping towards the village leaders´ current location while almost all among the audience were fast asleep.

"Lord Kazekage, what is this?" the Hokage asked. He then saw something in the Kazekage´s eyes that shocked him.

As the smoke thickened, eight ANBU agents were positioned outside of it. "Squad one, above; squad two below," an agent with a cat mask ordered. "Protect the nobles!"

Four of the agents leapt off the platform and down to the audience. Once they were gone, the two men in sandy-brown cloaks leapt out of the smoke and towards the remaining agents, a kunai in their hands.

"You will not interfere!" the cat-masked agent shouted as he cut both of the men in half with his own kunai.

Then they heard someone gasp and saw the jonin who was at the Hokage´s side impaled in the chest by four kunai. "Lord Hokage…" he wheezed. "You must flee… Escape now…!"

As the leader of Konoha watched the jonin die, he was caught in a headlock by the Kazekage, who also held a kunai at the old man´s throat. He then leapt up to the arena´s rooftop. The leader of the sand village then saw a kunai flying towards him, but he grabbed it before it got close to his face and also held it at the Hokage´s throat.

Just then, the two men´s halved corpses leapt up and left the clothing behind, revealing four persons! They leapt up to the rooftop and landed at four different corners.

One of the four was a young man with dark skin, black hair and eyes, and four arms! He was dressed in a black sleeveless top and shorts, a tunic over those two articles of clothing, a purple rope that was used as a belt, a ninja headband with the sound village´s insignia on it around his forehead, a pair of sandals, and bandages around his legs.

"Finally, it´s my time," the four-armed man smirked.

Another of the four was a young man with dark-grey hair and two heads! One of the heads had its hair cover the left eye, while the other had its right eye covered. Each of the heads wore purple lipstick and brown eyeliner, giving them a rather feminine appearance. The man wore a brown tunic, long black wristbands, black skintight shorts, and the same purple rope as the four-armed man. To finish off his choice of clothing, the man had a giant scroll on his back, and the head with the right eye covered had a necklace of red beads around his neck.

"We´ve all been waiting for this," the man said through his head with the covered right eye. "I was so frustrated hiding in that disguise."

The third member of the four was the only female in the group. She had long, untamed red hair, wore a hat with bandages around the sides, a tan tunic, black shorts, and a pair of sandals.

"You´re all sweaty, too," she remarked to the two-headed man. "So gross…"

The final member of the four was a young man with a large build. He had orange eyes and three tufts of orange hair on his head, the middle tuft creating a Mohawk that ran down the middle of his skull. He wore a sleeveless tunic, black arm-warmers, and a pair of black pants that stopped just below his knees, a pair of sandals, a pair of legwarmers that were covered by bandages, a purple rope around his waist, and a necklace that held several long, metallic pieces.

"Come on, we´re all friends here, right?" the big man reasoned.

"Let´s go!" the cat-masked ANBU agent ordered. "We have to protect Lord Hokage! Beware of traps!"

As the agents rushed towards them, the sound ninjas made hand-seals and crouched down. "Ninja Art: Four Flames Formation!" they all cried at the same time, and then a huge barrier made of purple energy surrounded the Kages!

One of the agents had jumped into the barrier, and his body burst into flames in mere seconds as a result! "We have to figure out a way past this without dying," the cat-masked agent stated as he and his two colleagues stood still.

Down among the sleeping audience, Kakashi, Guy, and Sakura all stared at the barrier. "Those guys outwitted the ANBU black ops… and ANBU are supposed to be the best," the former of the two jonin grumbled.

Before they could move on to help, the same ANBU agent who put everyone to sleep appeared before them. "Why are you here?" Guy demanded. "Lord Hokage is in danger!"

The agent made a hand-seal, and then four members of the audience leapt out of their clothes and appeared next to the agent, now dressed like sound ninjas. "What a nuisance…" Kakashi sighed.

"An enemy masquerading as ANBU black ops," Guy figured. "So, he was using a Genjutsu."

"Yes, there´s no mistake."

The Hokage looked down at the rooftop. "I never…" he said. "The sand village has betrayed the leaf village?"

"The treaty between our villages was simply a trick to let down your guard," the Kazekage replied. "This petty little battle game ends now. from this point on, the course of history will change."

The leader of Konoha frowned. "What are you saying, that you´re going to start a war?"

The sand village´s leader narrowed his eyes. "That´s right," he confirmed.

"Armed conflict resolves nothing. We should seek a resolution through negotiation." The Hokage turned his head to look at his captor. "There´s still time, Lord Kazekage. You can reconsider."

The Kazekage chuckled. "Perhaps the fear of death makes one more cowardly in age… Sarutobi-sensei."

The Hokage gasped and looked at the leader of the sand village with widened eyes. "You…!"

* * *

><p>Outside of the village, a huge burst of smoke appeared. The sand jonin had succeeded in summoning a monster, and that monster was three gigantic brown snakes that were merged together at their tails. The beasts hissed wrathfully as they easily broke down the walls surrounding Konoha and slithered through the village.<p>

Jonin tried to stop the snakes by throwing paper bombs at them, but the explosives did little to no damage whatsoever. Even as one of the snakes attacked them, the sand ninja assisted the beasts in the destruction of the hidden leaf village.

* * *

><p>"What is going on here?" Sasuke wondered as he looked around at the chaos.<p>

"Stop it, Gaara!" Temari yelled as she and Kankuro leapt down to her other brother.

The redhead, still bleeding badly from the Chidori attack, glared at his opponent with bloodlust in his eyes. "I must… kill him!" he wheezed as he held his bleeding shoulder.

"There´s no point in continuing this fight!" Kankuro argued.

"That´s right!" Temari agreed. "Don´t forget our mission!"

Gaara pushed his brother away from him. "Out of my way…!"

Baki then appeared in front of the Sand Siblings, is back turned to them. "What are you three doing now?" he hissed. "Can´t you see the operation´s already underway?"

As Gaara suddenly had a violent headache and held his head, Genma appeared in front of Sasuke. "What is going on? Tell me!" Sasuke demanded.

As the redhead fell to his knees, his sister checked up on him. "His wound is worse than I thought," she said, "and his chakra´s almost completely drained away."

Kankuro then had an idea. "Wait, what about using that—"

"It´s not possible right now," Temari interrupted.

"You fool!" Baki scolded Gaara. "It´s all because you tried to transform before the signal was given!"

Kankuro looked at his sensei. "So what do we do now?" he asked in a panicky tone. "We need Gaara for this!"

"Gaara´s the trump card of the sand village," Baki said calmly. "We have to get him to play his part, no matter what." He looked at the oldest of the siblings. "Alright, for now, you two take Gaara and tend to his wounds. As soon as his chakra has been restored, the operation will continue."

"You got it!" Kankuro nodded as he slung his brother´s right arm over his shoulder and helped him stand up.

"And you, Sensei?" Temari asked.

Baki looked back at Genma and Sasuke. "I´m going to take care of these guys," he answered.

"Do you really think things will go according to your plan?" Genma asked skeptically.

The Sand Siblings´ teacher narrowed his visible eye. "I´ll make sure they do."

Konran looked on from afar as he saw the Sand Siblings flee the arena. _Where are they going?_ he asked in thought. _Wait… could it be that they have a part in this chaos?_ He frowned as he leapt after them.

As the two adults prepared to fight, Genma asked, "And is the host of this party… Orochimaru?"

As Sasuke gasped upon hearing the name, Baki simply shrugged. "Don´t know," he replied. "And I don´t care. Now let´s heat things up, huh?"

The proctor looked over his shoulder at the boy behind him. "Sasuke…" he started, "I´m sorry… but the Chunin Exam ends here for you. You´ve already achieved chunin level. You´re a Konoha ninja, so put your training to good use."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "In other words, I´m supposed to take down Gaara, right?" he assumed. "Our match continues?"

"Just be careful – it´s the real thing now, not a match."

"What I must do… is the same."

Sasuke quickly took off. Baki tried to throw kunai at him, but Genma intercepted the projectiles with his own kunai and let Sasuke run up a nearby wall and leap off to chase the Sand Siblings.

Up on the rooftop, the two Kages had spotted Sasuke running off. "Well, well, well…" the Kazekage said. "We had intended to capture Sasuke while Gaara was causing trouble… but I suppose not everything can go according to plan."

Sarutobi, the Hokage, frowned. "I see… so _that_ was the plan," he muttered. "Then Konoha and Sasuke were your targets, is that correct?"

The Kazekage glared at the Hokage. "Do you really think the leaf village is _that _important?" he asked. "Now, if Gaara returns, I´ll be able to show you something very interesting. Very interesting, indeed. But anyway, your stubbornness and incompetence has allowed me to outmaneuver you. I´ve defeated you."

"Nothing is decided until the very end," the leader of Konoha stated. "I taught you that years ago, didn´t I?"

The Kazekage held up his hand with the kunai in it to his face. He then ripped his skin off like a mask… and underneath it was Orochimaru´s face! The wicked snake-man smirked evilly as he held the kunai at his target´s throat again.

Sarutobi closed his eyes. "I knew, or at least thought, this day would eventually come," he said. "However…" He opened his eyes and glared daggers at the pale man. "…you´re not gonna defeat me that easily."

Orochimaru seemed unaffected by those words. "I told you, didn´t I?" he asked. "You should have picked the Fifth Hokage before now. Because, Third Hokage… right here, right now, you´re going to die." He licked both of the kunai like the psychopath that he was.

* * *

><p>Out at an outpost near the edge of the village, Ibiki and a group of jonin looked at the spectacle from the rooftop. "Orochimaru…" the proctor growled.<p>

"What should we do?" one of the jonin asked. "Should we send in reinforcements?"

Ibiki looked at the jonin who spoke. "No," he replied. "It´s risky to act when we don´t know the whole situation – and if Orochimaru´s behind all this, even more so."

The jonin then asked, "Is Orochimaru… I mean, is he really that dangerous?"

"Originally… he was the Third Hokage´s student."

"So why in the world did he become a rouge ninja, then?"

"Long ago," Ibiki told, "back when the Fourth Hokage was decided, Orochimaru apparently put forth his own name for consideration… but his request was denied. Soon after, he severed all ties with Konoha. He most likely holds a grudge against the Third Hokage because of that."

"He seeks revenge?" the jonin asked.

Ibiki looked away from him. "I believe so," he said. "When I was just a child, I saw him one time, and I… I had one thought." He closed his eyes. "That he didn´t seem human to me… that he was just some creature that had taken on a human form." He opened his eyes again. "It was frightening… simply frightening."

As the jonin gulped, another one appeared on the rooftop. "Sir, I have a report!" he said. "Giant boas have appeared near the eastern gates of Konoha, and with them a hundred sand ninja! They have infiltrated our village and are battling the ninjas who are patrolling there!"

"Leave behind squads one and two and head to the gate, right now!" Ibiki ordered.

* * *

><p>"Quite a lot of them, huh?" Kakashi asked his rival as they stared down the sound ninjas.<p>

"We´ve been careless…" Guy growled. "And now, even Lord Hokage…" He looked at where the village leader was at, and then he spotted Orochimaru. "Kakashi, look!" he pointed out.

Sakura also saw the snake-man and gasped in shock. _Why is he here?_ she asked in thought. _Don´t tell me he´s after Sasuke again._ She tried to warn her friend and teammate, but then she noticed that Sasuke was already gone.

Two of the sound ninjas saw the pink-haired girl and leapt towards her to attack. Sakura instinctively shielded herself with her arms and closed her eyes. But before the ninjas could strike, Kakashi intercepted them and stabbed a kunai through both of their skulls.

When Sakura opened her eyes, she was greeted by her sensei´s smiling, masked face. "Sakura," he said calmly, "just stay there while I trim these enemies´ numbers down to size."

"Nicely done," Guy said as he kicked another of the sound ninjas into an unconscious member of the audience, "but I´m worried about Lord Hokage."

"Leave that to the ANBU black ops," Kakashi said as he grabbed a sound ninja´s arm and threw him into another. "We have enough to handle here. Besides, Lord Hokage isn´t some pushover, you know."

"Yeah, but—"

"Just remember, Guy," Kakashi interrupted. "He _is _the Hokage. He can handle it."

As Orochimaru chuckled in victory, Sarutobi saw that his captor had tears in his eyes. Smirking, he asked, "Are you actually crying because you´re so happy… or is it that inside your heart there is sorrow? A feeling of unhappiness that you can´t shake as you contemplate killing your old teacher?"

The snake-man smirked and stopped chuckling. "Not at all," he responded as he reeled back the kunai and stabbed-

-himself in his other hand! He let the weapons stay stuck in his palm as he yawned. "I was feeling so sleepy," he said, wiping his eyes. "But now it seems I´m finally awake."

"Yes, that´s exactly what I was thinking," the Hokage said as his former student let go of him and took a few steps away from him. "I was also thinking that you aren´t the kind of person who would hold a grudge. So it seems you have neither a goal nor a motive."

Orochimaru sighed. "I guess… well, I guess that I do kinda have a goal," he said. "Let me see if I can explain it… I find it interesting to watch things in motion. I get no pleasure when the world is still, like a windmill that isn´t turning." He took off his hat, letting his long black hair drop. "I suppose some might find it beautiful, even when it´s noble… but to me, such a thing is truly boring. So now…" he turned around to look at his old sensei. "…I want to put things in motion myself. The first step is crushing Konoha!"

The Hokage smirked and faced off with the snake-man. "I see you haven´t changed at all," he said.

As the fight in the audience seats raged on, Kakashi took a break to say to his student," Sakura! It was worth it to teach you Genjutsu during the survival training for the genin exam. you truly do have a talent for it."

The pink-haired girl was confused.

"Release the Genjutsu and free Naruto and Shikamaru. Naruto will get delighted… You´ll be getting a mission after such a long time."

"What kind of mission?" Sakura nervously asked.

"You´ll have to be careful on this one… It´s the first A-ranked assignment since the Land of Waves."

Without warning, a puff of smoke emerged from the kunai that were stuck in Orochimaru´s hand, much to the two men´s confusion. When the smoke cleared, there stood Torabu, his tail digging into the palm along with the other kunai. "Take this, you traitor!" he shouted and delivered a punch to the snake-man´s chin, sending him staggering backwards.

The cat-boy yanked his tail out of the palm and leapt backwards. "Damn… it´s gonna take a lot of baths to get your snake spit off me," he groaned.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow. "Torabu?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

The troublemaking ninja turned his head to look at the village leader. "I saw some trouble brewing over here," he said, "and I´m the only one who may brew trouble!" He delivered a smirk. "Plus, I owe this jackass some payback from our little encounter in the woods."

Orochimaru recovered and rubbed his chin. "So… the little kitty came out to play, huh?" he asked, a smirk on his lips. "Very well… I´ll make sure that none of you will live to see another day."

* * *

><p>dopliss: Now that we´re here, I got three announcements to make. First: I´m through using the Dragonball Z-like questions at the end of a chapter.<p>

Mizuki: Good riddance.

dopliss: Second: Each chapter will be focused on a different event until this arc is over.

Mizuki: Like in the anime?

dopliss: Yes. And finally, I don´t think I can upload a chapter next week, but I will make up for that… somehow.


	48. Chapter 48 The battle starts

**dopliss: I´m back, folks! My exams are finally over, and as a result, I got the rest of the week to spend away from school.**

**Mizuki: As long as you update.**

**dopliss: Right! And as I said last chapter, I´ll make up for my forced break… somehow.**

**Disclaimer: (singing) Old Kishimoto had a farm, E-I-E-I-O! And on that farm was all he own, even Naruto!**

* * *

><p>Kakashi dodged a strike from one of the sound ninjas and threw him over his shoulder, his pink-haired student narrowly avoiding the enemy. "But, Sensei, what are you doing?" Sakura demanded. "With this battle going on, why send us off on some mission?"<p>

Without turning his head to look at her, Kakashi replied, "Sasuke´s chasing Gaara and the other sand ninja." He took out a kunai and placed his left fingers on it. "Release the Genjutsu, wake Naruto and Shikamaru and follow Sasuke." _I feel uneasy… about that weird chakra, _he thought as he cut a hole in his thumb, remembering the strange arm that came out of Gaara´s sand shield.

"But… then, shouldn´t we also wake Ino and the others and go in a group?" Sakura asked nervously.

"No time." Kakashi looked around. "I suspect that many sand and sound ninja have already infiltrated this village. Besides, if you have more than the four ninjas essential to a squad, it takes longer to get anything done and becomes more difficult to hide from the enemy. You did learn that in the school´s patrol training, didn´t you?"

The pink-haired girl caught on to what her sensei was telling her. "Of course!" she realized. "With four squad members… that means you´ll be coming with us, right?"

"No," Kakashi replied as he made hand-seals. "I must not leave this place." He pressed his left hand against one of the unconscious members of the audience´s back. "Summoning Jutsu!"

Once the cloud of smoke cleared, one of Kakashi´s ninja hounds appeared on the unconscious person´s back – it was the pug, to be precise. As the dog rubbed its eyes with its right paw, Kakashi explained, "Pakkun here will track down Sasuke by scent."

Sakura gave a skeptical look. "Wait, seriously?" she asked. "Our fourth member is a puppy?"

Pakkun leapt over to right in front of the pink-haired girl and looked her right in the eyes. "Alright, listen, little girl," he said in a very deep voice. "Don´t you dare go ´round sayin´ I´m just some cute puppy."

_But, I didn´t even _say _cute… _she thought uncomfortably.

"Okay, it´s time," Kakashi said, gaining the two´s attention. "Sakura, go release the Genjutsu!"

Sakura nodded and crawled through the seats and over to her friends, Pakkun following her. When she arrived at their sides, she sat in front of Naruto and made hand-seals. Once the Jutsu was complete, she tapped the orange-clad boy on the shoulder. Naruto slowly woke up and opened his eyes. Sitting up and rubbing his tired eyes, he asked, "Hey… what´s going on, Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl spotted something out of the corner of her eye and quickly tackled her friend to the ground, just in time to avoid getting struck by a kunai. "I´ll fill you in later, just stay down!" she whispered. She crawled over to Shikamaru and prepared to release the Genjutsu again, but then she saw his closed eye twitch. "Shikamaru… you were… this whole time…?" she growled in annoyance.

Pakkun walked over to the lazy boy´s leg and bit down hard. After a few seconds of silence, Shikamaru sat up, screaming in pain as he tried to kick the pug off of him. "You released the Genjutsu too, faker!" Sakura scolded. "Why were you pretending to be asleep this whole time?"

Shikamaru calmed down and yanked the dog off his leg. "I didn´t want to get involved," he explained. "Just gimme a break… I couldn´t care less about Sasuke." Pakkun bit his hand, causing the boy to scream in pain again.

Naruto sat up and took a look at his surroundings. The sight of a sleeping crowd and fighting ninjas confused him. "What is all this?" he thought aloud.

Before any of the three children could act, one of the sound ninjas appeared behind the orange-clad boy, kunai reeled back. Before he had a chance to attack, however, he was grabbed by Guy and punched into the nearest wall. "So fast…" the sound ninja wheezed.

"Not just fast – powerful," Guy smirked as he pressed harder and managed to make a hole in the wall and send the ninja flying.

Kakashi appeared between the three genin. "Now, I´ll explain the mission," he said. "As soon as I do, go through that opening. First, track down Sasuke and stop him. Then, find a safe location and await further orders."

"Did something happen to Sasuke?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"I´ll tell you what happened on the way," Sakura told her teammate. "Now let´s go!" And with that, she grabbed her friend and leaped out of the hole.

"Why me…?" Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag…"

"Listen, whiner," Pakkun growled. "Look, if this mission is a success, as a reward, I´ll let you touch my paw – well, my pads. So there´s no reason to sulk." Upon seeing a confused look on the lazy boy´s face, he lifted his right paw, showing cute pink pads. "C´mon… they´re really soft."

"They´re… what?" Shikamaru was not at all less confused.

The dog sighed. "No one ever wants to shake…" His voice then grew in aggression. "…BUT MY PAWS ARE SO SOFT AND SUPPLEEEE!" Upon getting no different reaction from Shikamaru, the pug sighed again. "Forget it… let´s go." And with that said, Pakkun bit down hard on the lazy boy´s hand and dragged him out of the hole and after Sakura and Naruto, the boy screaming in pain all the while.

"Are they gonna be okay by themselves?" Guy asked his rival.

"Yes, they´ll be fine," Kakashi answered. "Pakkun will protect them… as long as they don´t go too far."

Sarutobi and Orochimaru stared daggers at each other, the latter with an amused expression on his face. "I never thought I´d get to face you in battle again," the snake-man stated.

Torabu looked at the four ninjas that created the barrier. _If all else fails, I can take out one of them and break the barrier so that the Hokage and I can escape,_ he thought.

"Okay," the four-armed man smirked, "let´s get this show on the road."

"Put up a barrier on the inside, too," the two-headed man said.

Concentrating their chakra, the four sound ninjas were surrounded with another barrier, completely hindering any possible way of breaking in or out. "Doesn´t look like we´ll be able to get out of here easily," the Hokage stated.

"Of course it won´t be easy," Orochimaru smirked. "I know you – it would be a big bother if someone came in here and got in your way, wouldn´t it?" He looked at the troublemaking ninja. "Not that it hasn´t already happened."

The former student and teacher set off to run towards each other, both making hand-seals. "Ninja Art: Tile Shuriken!" Sarutobi shouted as the tiles levitated off the roof and flew towards Orochimaru, spinning fast.

"This is too easy!" the snake-man laughed as he leapt into the air, avoiding the tiles. "Striking Shadow Snake!" With the cry of his technique´s name, Orochimaru´s tongue turned into a large and long snake that reached its target and bit down hard on its neck!

Torabu quickly leapt into action and used his Chakra Claws to cut the snake in half, but that did nothing to stop Orochimaru from closing in on his opponent. "With a weak technique like that, there´s no way you can beat me," the snake-man taunted, whichever one of his opponents was unknown.

But as the evil leader of the sound ninjas landed next to the Hokage, the old man turned into mud. As the half snake transformed back into his tongue and the other half vanished, Orochimaru turned around to see his old sensei forming a hand-seal. "Earth Style: Great Mud River!" the old man shouted.

Orochimaru then lost his footing as a river of mud appeared underneath him and pushed him backwards. His facial features did not change from the smirk, however. "Is that all you´ve got?" he asked as he made more hand-seals.

"Far from it!" the Hokage replied as he made his own hand-seals. "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bomb!" Arising from the start of the river of mud, a dragon´s head that was made out of mud appeared! It opened its mouth and spat balls of mud towards its summoner´s opponent. "Fire Dragon Bomb!" Sarutobi shouted as he blew a wave of fire that struck the balls of mud, igniting them!

"And here´s one for good measure!" Torabu cried as he made hand-seals. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" With that said, the cat-boy fired a massive fireball at his opponent.

The two attacks struck Orochimaru, who was helpless as he got roasted. When the wave of mud and fire disappeared, so had any trace of the snake-man. Sarutobi narrowed his eyes. "You can stop your little act, Orochimaru," he hissed.

Chuckling, Orochimaru slowly emerged from the rooftop as if crawling out of a body of water. "Alright, then," he said once he was fully out. "But fair´s fair, it´s foolish to underestimate me. Did you seriously think that you could kill me with such pitiful Jutsus?"

Torabu growled. "You´re just taunting us ´cause you can´t beat us," he replied.

"Aw, don´t be angry with me." Orochimaru´s tone was slick and taunting. "Difficult students are all the more rewarding to teach… right, Sarutobi-sensei?" He licked his lips. "Isn´t it about time we stopped playing around here? After all, this isn´t a school class."

The Hokage smirked and put his left hand on his hat. "Yes, you do have a point," he agreed. He then threw his hat and robe away, revealing combat attire underneath the flung clothing. The attire consisted of a black jumpsuit with mesh segments on the lower portions of the sleeves and leggings, a grey gauntlet that covered his right arm from the wrist to the elbow, and an armored hood with a bandanna-like Konoha ninja headband over it.

"Did you foresee this, dying this way?" Orochimaru asked as he removed the Kazekage robe to reveal his normal attire. "Don´t think I´ll go easy on you just because you´re old and doddering."

As the rooftop began shaking and pieces of the tiles flew into the air, Sarutobi replied, "I wouldn´t want you to. Now, depending on how good your Jutsu is, I might send you back to school."

"At least _try _to make this an interesting fight."

_Whoa!_ Torabu thought in awe. _Their chakra´s so powerful, the air´s become heavy with it!_

The two grownups ran towards one another again. Sarutobi threw a shuriken and quickly made hand-seals. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" the Hokage cried, and then the projectile duplicated into hundreds of copies!

Orochimaru stopped in his tracks and made his own hand-seals. "Summoning Jutsu: Reanimation!" he shouted. "First!"

The old man grimaced when he saw a coffin appear out of a purple portal in the rooftop and shield its summoner.

"Second!"

Another coffin appeared next to the first one, and this caused the Hokage to worry. "I must stop the third, at any cost!" he said to himself as he made hand-seals.

"Now third!"

As the multiple shuriken struck the first two coffins, a third one slowly emerged from the portal. Sarutobi finished his seals when the coffin was halfway out, and it was pushed back into the portal again, which then disappeared.

_So the third one failed, did it?_ Orochimaru asked in thought, a giant smirk plastered on his face. _Oh well… no matter._

The lids to the coffins opened and fell to the ground as their occupants emerged. "Ah, what´re you gonna do now, Sarutobi-sensei?" Orochimaru asked mockingly. "What _can _you do?"

The two who emerged from the coffins were zombies. One had waist-length black hair and black eyes, wore a black suit with a red armor over it, which covered his chest, shoulders, thighs, and forearms. The other one had white shaggy hair and red eyes, wore a black suit with a blue armor over it, which was similarly worn like the other zombie, except this one also had a white fur collar.

The two zombies took a few steps towards the Hokage. "It´s been a very long time, Saru," the one in red armor greeted emotionlessly.

"Oh, it´s you," the other zombie said. "You´ve gotten so old, Sarutobi."

Sarutobi growled. "Never in my entire life did I imagine I would have to face off against my brethren in this manner," he said in an angry tone. "What a vile trick…!"

"Who are those two, Lord Hokage?" Torabu asked.

"Those are the Senju brothers," the old man answered. "The black-haired one is Hashirama, and the other is Tobirama. They are the First Hokage and Second Hokage respectfully."

"Huh-WHAAAA?" the cat-boy gasped. "You saying those two are your predecessors?"

"Not just my predecessors, but also the ones to build this village."

Tobirama turned his head to look back at Orochimaru. "A Summoning Jutsu…" he muttered. "It seems that he used the forbidden reanimation technique. How insolent…"

"Then, Sarutobi, tell me," Hashirama started, "does this Summoning Jutsu mean we´re being forced to battle against you?"

"Enough with the reminiscing," the snake-man interrupted. "It´s time that we got started!"

"Whenever you live… there´s always war," the First Hokage stated.

"Isn´t it great?" Orochimaru asked as he chuckled evilly.

"Nothing good can ever come off this!" Sarutobi stated angrily. "You´ve disrespected the dead and manipulated time!"

Torabu cracked his fingers and knuckles. "So, snake-freak, you´re so scared to fight us alone that you had to get some help?" he asked.

Orochimaru shook his head. "I could easily take out both of you," he stated, "I just wanted to cause some emotional pain as well."

The troublemaking ninja entered a fighting stance. "If it´s pain you want, then we´ll gladly give you some!"

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><p>dopliss: It´s a short chapter, yes, but I said I´ll make up for it.<p>

Mizuki: Meanwhile, I´ll eat all dopliss´s fridge has to offer.

dopliss: And what in the hell makes you say that?

Mizuki: Because if you don´t let me, I´ll reveal your exam grades to the readers.

dopliss: (whacking Mizuki on the head with a wooden mallet) What makes you think they give a damn?


	49. Chapter 49 The chase starts

**dopliss: Next update´s gonna be very special, guys!**

**Mizuki: Special how?**

**dopliss: Be patient.**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. And if I am lying, then may lightning strike me dead. (Lightning strikes the space next to dopliss).**

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><p>Rushing through the treetops, Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru and Pakkun were on the chase to find Sasuke. The pink-haired had explained the situation to her orange-clad teammate along the way. "So <em>that´s <em>what happened…" Naruto thought aloud. "I get it… I guess Sasuke got all impatient."

"Oh man…" Shikamaru sighed. "Why did you have to pull me into this, anyway? This whole thing is such a drag…"

"It can´t be helped, okay?" Sakura replied, not bothering with the lazy boy´s complaining. "It´s Kakashi-sensei´s order."

The small dog took a good sniff at the air and suddenly changed direction. "This way!" he said, and the genin followed him.

"How long ´til we catch up?" Naruto asked.

"I don´t know," Pakkun replied. "A long time, if they keep moving at this pace."

"Ah, come on…!"

Taking another sniff, Pakkun barked (sorry), "C´mon, you guys, hurry it up!"

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

"Did you see Sasuke?" Naruto asked in alarm.

"No," the dog simply answered. "There are two squads behind us – that´s eight ninjas." He then heard the sound of feet hitting wood. "Wait… No, there is one more – that´s nine ninjas following us."

"Aw man, come on, already…!" Shikamaru groaned. "Gimme a break, here!"

Indeed, nine sound ninjas were following the team through the trees, tracking them by use of the footprints and paw-prints in the branches. To add a little more intelligence in the tracking, one of the ninjas had cut in the trees with a kunai before following the rest of his group.

"It looks like they haven´t discovered our location… yet," Pakkun stated. "We need to lose them."

The dog jumped down to the ground, and the three genin followed him. Down there, the canine was thinking long and hard about their situation. "What´s the deal?" Naruto asked in annoyance. "Why are we stopping?"

"Zip it and follow me!" Pakkun growled (again, sorry), successfully causing Naruto to seize complaining. Walking backwards while stepping in his tracks, the pug then explained, "We´re going back over our footprints. If we pull this off, our footprints will seem to disappear." He then back-flipped up to the last tree branch that they had stepped on and waited for his comrades.

"Is this really gonna do anything?" Naruto skeptically asked as he and his friends did what Pakkun had told them to. "I mean, they have to be pretty lame ninjas if _this_ throws them off the trail."

"It´ll help buy us some time!" the dog impatiently stated. "That´s all we need now. But if our pursuers get impatient, succumb to the thrill of the chase and lose sight of our tracks, I certainly won´t complain, know what I mean?"

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><p>A while after our heroes had left, the sound ninjas reached the area. But even though the plan of stepping in their tracks had successfully worked, there was a tiny error in the plan: a tiny branch hanging on one of the trees further ahead was cracked, giving the sound ninjas a lead.<p>

* * *

><p>Pakkun, however, soon noticed the approach of the enemies. "This is not good," he said. "Be prepared for an ambush – they´re definitely back on our trail."<p>

"Oh, great…" Shikamaru sighed. "They´re probably all chunin or higher... We´ll be wiped out if they catch us."

While Sakura was slightly frightened by that last statement, Naruto said with a lot of determination, "Listen, guys, we don´t have much choice. We´re gonna have to ambush them!"

"An ambush?" Sakura repeated, thinking that plan over. "That could work… It can give us an advantage, even if there are twice as many of them as there are of us."

"No, it´s no good," Pakkun countered. "I´m afraid that those ninjas chasing us are Orochimaru´s henchmen. My guess is that they´re all jonin level."

"I _really _thought that would work…" Shikamaru growled, having surprisingly agreed with his friends for once, "but I guess it won´t."

"Wait, hold on," Sakura interrupted. "Why not? The levels of an opponent doesn´t have much to do with an ambush, does it?"

The lazy boy glared at his friends out of the corner of his eyes. "You guys just don´t get it," he said. "Let me explain. Yes, an ambush is a key battle tacticand can be very beneficial, but for it to work, you have to meet two conditions."

"Well? What are they?" Naruto asked. "Tell us and we can meet them."

"Number one…" Shikamaru held up a finger on his left hand. "The ninjas on the run must be completely quiet and must find the enemy first." He held up another finger. "Number two: They have to be able to catch the pursuers off guard, have a location where they can do a lot of damage quickly, and then conceal themselves again just as quickly. And it´s _only_ under those two conditions that an ambush can truly be effective."

He turned his head to look at the thoughtful expressions on his comrades´ faces. "Now, the first condition won´t be so hard, since the ninja hound´s nose can find the enemy. And the second one also seems to be in our favor, since we know the geography of our village like the backs of our hands." He looked directly in front of himself. "However… Orochimaru is a former Konoha ninja, so on the second condition, we´re out of luck."

"We are?" Naruto asked, confused. "Wait; tell me why that is, again."

"Our pursuers have studied the layout of this village, and I have to assume they´ve been put through simulated practices for this mission. And on top of that, they´re probably masters of the Pursuit Jutsu."

"So they know all the cards we´re holding?" Sakura assumed.

"Well, I don´t really know," Shikamaru replied. "I suppose that an ambush could give us an advantage… but so many things are uncertain. Besides, our enemy is a special unit that was specifically put together just for this operation." He turned his head to look at his allies again. "And what are the four of us? A fool…" Naruto growled in annoyance. "…a female ninja with no particular talent…" Sakura narrowed her eyes dangerously. "…a mutt…" Pakkun glared at the lazy boy. "…and me: a shirker who doesn´t even wanna be here."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Look, tactics are about clearly grasping a tough situation and formulating the best plan. And right now, only one plan makes sense… just one."

"And that is?" Sakura curiously asked.

"A diversion that only _looks like _an ambush," the lazy boy answered. "So one of us is gonna stay behind and slow them down."

"So, one of us will be a decoy," the pink-haired girl summarized.

"That´s right," Shikamaru nodded. "If one of us can delay them, they shouldn´t be able to find the rest of us. We´ll be able to escape. Of course, the one who acts as a decoy will probably die."

The four of them landed on some branches and took a break. Not one of them said a single word, all consumed by their own thoughts of who should take the chance of sacrificing themselves. Finally, after a long silence, Shikamaru asked a question: "So, who´s going to do it?" Getting no immediate answer, the lazy boy stated, "We need the dog to follow Sasuke… so that means…"

Sakura bit her lip in slight fear, and Naruto clenched his fists in tension. After considering for a long time, Naruto said, "Alright, I guess that I´m gonna—"

"I´m the only one who can do it," Shikamaru interrupted, much to the shock of his allies.

"Why does it have to be _you_?" Naruto asked in a mixture of anger and shock.

"It´s better than all of us being wiped out, right?" the lazy boy replied. "Besides, I´m the only one of us who´s got a chance to pull off this decoy act… and of surviving this attack." He leapt over to a tree branch behind the other two genin. "I mean, after all, Shadow Possession Jutsu was invented as a delaying tactic." He gave the two a quick smirk. "Anyway, I´ll catch up with you later. Go on. Get going."

It was hard for him to accept it, but Naruto nodded in agreement with the other boy. "We´re counting on you, Shikamaru," he said.

As the two members of Team 7 and the dog continued on their chase, Sakura looked back at the boy they were leaving behind. _Since when did he become so dedicated?_ she asked in thought. _Be careful… Shikamaru._

* * *

><p>The sound ninjas stopped at another footprint. One of them looked at a broken twig on one of the trees and cut in it with his kunai. "No matter how much you try to erase the signs of your passage… we´ll find you," he said and took off along with his comrades.<p>

* * *

><p>Pakkun sniffed the air again. "Listen! The enemy´s coming up fast!" he said.<p>

"What?" Sakura gasped.

"I wonder if he´s really trying, back there," the dog said skeptically.

Sakura remembered how the lazy boy had referred to himself as a 'shirker who did not want to be here', and then negative thoughts entered her head. "Don´t tell me… Shikamaru…"

"Shikamaru will be just fine," Naruto reassured his teammate, "got it?"

The pink-haired girl looked at the orange-clad boy. "Don´t tell me that he just ran away…!"

"Look, I said he´d be okay, and I meant it!"

"How do you know?" Sakura asked with a slightly panicky tone.

"He´s lazy and he´s always complaining about everything, but he would _never _betray us!" Naruto noticed that Sakura´s expression was not any less worried, so he continued. "I know he hardly ever volunteers to do anything himself, but if he says he´s gonna do it, then he´ll do it, and that´s for sure!"

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><p>Down on the forest floor somewhere, Shikamaru sat up against a tree, looking at the sky with a bored and exhausted expression on his face. "I can´t believe I managed to get away…" he thought aloud to himself.<p>

The sound ninjas landed down on the ground, noticing a trail of footprints and paw-prints. "His footprints are irregular," one of them noted. "Anxiety is probably increasing his fatigue." He stood up and looked at where the tracks led towards, but before he could move – or any of them, actually – they were immobilized when Shikamaru appeared in front of them.

"Oops… sorry," the lazy boy falsely apologized. "I was supposed to be the guy who didn´t wanna get involved… but I guess I´m not quite what you expected, am I?" He gave them a cocky smirk. "You´re right about one thing: I´m tired. But with everything else, you´re wrong… like our footprints." He held up a piece of wood that had the shape of a small paw on one of its ends. "This is what I used to make the paw-prints."

With his Shadow Possession Jutsu, Shikamaru had managed to immobilize all of the sound ninjas by dividing his shadow. Yet, it was obvious to the villains that the lazy boy was on his last legs. "Oi, he´s just a kid," one of them said. "I can´t believe we got caught by this…"

"So this is the Konoha Shadow Paralysis Jutsu we´ve heard about, huh?" another asked.

"Hmph. Yeah, if you wanna call it by that old name," Shikamaru acknowledged, "but I´m afraid you´re behind the times. Now it´s called the Shadow Possession Jutsu, old man." The lazy boy felt more and more exhausted by the second as his chakra slowly slipped away. The fight against Temari had taken its toll on him. He took out several shuriken with his right hand, but when he made a headcount of his enemies, he could only see eight of them!

_Of course! _Shikamaru thought in realization. _The ninth one´s purpose is to protect the others in case of an ambush. That one stays behind the others to protect them in case of an attack._ He took out several kunai with his left hand and shielded himself with both arms. The ninjas caught in his shadow did not have their projectile holsters where Shikamaru had his, thus they were unarmed.

Shikamaru threw his weapons at the eight defenseless ninjas, but the projectiles were deflected by other kunai and shuriken. It all went according to the lazy boy´s plan, and he looked up at the tree where the countering weapons were thrown from. He tried to extend his shadow so that it would also immobilize the ninth ninja, but he was too low on chakra.

"It´s futile, kid," one of the sound ninjas stated. "I see through your technique."

_So this is it…_ the lazy boy thought, preparing himself for the worst.

"It looks like you´re at your limit. That Shadow Possession Jutsu of yours is going to fail soon, so prepare yourself."

Shikamaru sighed, both physically and mentally, and looked up at the passing clouds. _All I really wanted was to be an average ninja making an average living, _he thought. _I´d marry a regular girl who´s not super pretty or super ugly, have two kids – a girl and a boy – retire when my daughter got married and my son became a successful ninja, and spend the rest of my days playing Shogi or go a nice… carefree… leisurely retirement. And then I´d die of old age before my wife. Yep, that´s the life I wanted, and yet I ended up exerting myself – it´s so unlike me. Even though I just wanted to finish as a regular guy, I had to go and get myself into this sticky situation._

* * *

><p>"Huh?" Pakkun said, noticing a change in the atmosphere. "Looks like those ninjas aren´t chasing us anymore."<p>

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered. "Shikamaru succeeded! The delay tactic worked!"

A smile of happiness crossed Sakura´s lips. _I´m sorry I doubted you… even a little, _she thought.

_Okay, we´re half done,_ the orange-clad boy thought. _Now we can focus on catching up to Sasuke! Shikamaru… survive and catch up to us, no matter what! You can do it!_

* * *

><p>Shikamaru chuckled a little. "Well, as you said, it appears I´m at my limit," he said as his Jutsu ended.<p>

"Hey! Come on out!" one of the sound ninjas called to their ninth member. "And when you do… cut off his head!"

As soon as the sound ninja was done talking, someone leapt down from the trees and landed heavily right behind Shikamaru. But on the contrary on who the sound ninjas expected, the new person was someone entirely different. A cigarette in his mouth and armed with brass knuckles with a blade attached to them, Asuma Sarutobi stood tall and proud, the ninth sound ninja held unconscious under his right arm.

"Well, I´ve finally caught up with you guys," the teacher of Team 10 greeted smugly.

Shikamaru turned his head to look at his sensei in a mixture of shock and surprise. "Asuma…! But, how?" he asked in a raspy voice.

Instead of regarding his student, Asuma threw the ninja he held away, rushed up to another ninja, and punched him across the face, sending him flying. He then knocked another sound ninja out by striking him in the chin with a strong backhand, and when two kunai struck him in the back, he just transformed into a log by use of the Replacement Jutsu. The real Asuma then appeared over the sound ninjas, flying towards and planting both feet into one of them, sending him crashing into a tree. Two other ninjas then tried to attack their opponent from behind, but the teacher of Team 10 struck both of them in the gut with his fists, stabbing them while doing so. As he dodged a kunai thrown at him, Asuma leapt high into the air, and then sent a flying kick into the thrower´s head, kicking him to the curb. And finally, with a roar of power, he threw the ninja into the final conscious opponent, knocking him out.

Shikamaru just stared openmouthed in awe as his sensei utterly wrecked the very threatening sound ninjas. And after the one-sided battle had ended, Asuma said to his student, "You did well, Shikamaru."

The lazy boy fell down on his behind. "Yeah, but it was way too much work," he sighed in exhaustion.

The teacher smiled as his student let out an exasperated groan. _Stay here for now, Shikamaru… you´ve deserved it,_ he thought.

Now that Orochimaru´s goons were out of the picture, all that remained for Team 7 was to catch up to their teammate before he caught up with the Sand Siblings. Meanwhile, the Third Hokage and Torabu were about to go toe-to-toe with Orochimaru and the revived First and Second Hokages. And while all this happens, the rest of the ninjas are busy defending Konoha from both the sound ninjas and the sand ninjas.

* * *

><p>dopliss: You know, maybe I should assist in defending Konoha. You know, for an author cameo.<p>

Mizuki: (sighing) Just focus on the main events, okay?

dopliss: …But I look so awesome when I show my ninja moves…


	50. Chapter 50 Hokage battle royale

**dopliss: Summer vacation! (Blows noisemaker) Six weeks of no school!**

**Mizuki: See, that´s the funny thing about you authors when you´re young. You´re excited as hell during vacations… (smugly) which makes it all the more sweet to see you get dragged back to school.**

**dopliss: Save it. Your negative rants won´t scare me!**

**Disclaimer: For the fiftieth time: I don´t own Naruto!**

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><p>"Now then… shall we begin this?" Orochimaru asked as he held up two kunai with a tag tied to each of them. "First, let me restore these dear old companions of yours to something more like their former selves. And then, if you are ready, Sarutobi-sensei…"<p>

The snake-man then slowly pushed the kunai, which phased through instead of stabbing, into the reanimated Hokages´ heads. And then, stunning to the Third Hokage, his predecessors altered in appearance. Their skin color became more human in nature, making it appear that they were truly brought back to life. Sarutobi, wide-eyed, took a few steps forward to get a closer look at the other Hokages.

Orochimaru chuckled sadistically. "Now they´re complete…" he said.

Torabu looked at the current village leader, and was shocked to see him in tears. His shock then turned into anger as he glared back at Orochimaru, eyes narrowed as much as they could. "You bastard…!" he growled. "How dare you use someone´s fallen comrades against him!"

The snake-man, however, ignored the troublemaking ninja. "Have you ever felt the joy and fulfillment of humiliating and destroying the one you once called 'Sensei'?" he asked the Third Hokage. Without letting him answer, he continued. "No, I suppose not. Perhaps, vicariously through me, you get a hint of what I mean." He made a hand-seal. "Just a taste, before you die…"

Upon getting a silent order from their master, the first two Hokages ran towards their opponents. "Lord Hokage, snap out of it!" Torabu shouted as he took a kunai and ran forward. "Those two might look alive, but they´re not!" He tried to slash the First Hokage when he was close enough, but the reanimated zombie just leapt over the cat-boy.

Sarutobi gritted his teeth in anger. "I´m aware of that!" he replied as he blocked a punch from the Second Hokage, followed by jumping over a leg-sweep from the First.

The current village leader then dodged and blocked a flurry of punches and kicks from the Second. When the zombie tried to jump into the air and deliver a spin-kick to his opponent´s head, Sarutobi grabbed his leg, swung him around in circles, and threw him away, only for him to land on his feet right next to the First.

"Alright, let it begin!" the Third Hokage said as he made a hand-seal. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bombs!" And with a deep breath, he blew a huge stream of fire that caught his opponents!

As he watched, Orochimaru chuckled to himself, finding the battle between Hokages amusing. His attention was then pulled over towards Torabu when he saw him coming running towards him with his Chakra Claws out. The snake-man merely stepped aside each time the troublemaking ninja tried to swipe at him. After the twentieth attempt, Orochimaru caught his opponent´s arms by his wrists and restrained him.

"Torabu was it?" he asked smugly. "I liked your performance during your fight. You really made my pawn completely defenseless against you."

"If you wanna compliment me," Torabu hissed, "then clap your hands when I cut off that screwed-up head of yours!"

Orochimaru looked deep into his opponent´s green ones and chuckled. _Should I tell him the whole truth? Nah… it´ll be funnier when _he_ reveals it all to him. I guess I´ll just stick with half the truth._

"Hey, mongoose-food, what´s so funny?" the cat-boy asked through gritted teeth.

The villain tilted his head mockingly. "Do you know about your parents, Torabu Maka?" he asked.

The troublemaking ninja raised an eyebrow. "No… Why are you asking?"

Orochimaru closed his eyes. "Oh, nothing… It´s just that I knew them."

The cat-boy´s eyes widened upon hearing that. "W-W-What the hell are you talking about?"

The snake-man opened his eyes again, a gleam of sadism in them. "Your parents, when alive, were a rather… big bother to me," he explained. "When I tried to attack the village they lived in, they managed to drive me out. And I know of their deaths, too…"

Torabu just listened, stunned, his body not doing anything to try to get free from his opponent´s grasp.

"Torabu…" Orochimaru inched his face closer to the troublemaking ninja. "…how would you like to have your parents back?"

Inside the fire, the Second Hokage made a hand-seal. "Water Style: Water Wall!" he cried, and then a huge torrent of water appeared and surrounded him and his co-zombie, extinguishing the fire until it was completely gone.

As the Third Hokage saw the water disappear, the Second made another hand-seal. "Water Style: Water Shockwave!" Having said the name of his next attack, a huge amount of water appeared again, only this time, it formed a huge tidal wave!

Thinking quickly, Sarutobi made his own hand-seal. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" And with a mighty battle cry, a trail of mud appeared before the Hokage. The dirt then rose high up into the sky and created a huge wall, protecting its creator from the water.

The Second, however, waved with his hand, and then some of the water circled around the wall of mud, rose up to form a wave, and crashed against the rooftop. The current village leader quickly managed to jump up on the wall of mud before getting drowned, however. Once the water had settled, Sarutobi jumped down and walked on its surface. The First Hokage then leapt up on the water as well, and rushed towards his opponent with a speed so great that one would think he wore water-ski, his right arm held in front of him.

Sarutobi spat fireball after fireball towards the First, and even though they hit, they only slowed him down a little. The First then leapt into the air and attacked his opponent with a flying kick, but the old man blocked with both arms. Once he was on the water surface again, the First unfairly splashed water in his opponent´s face, stunning him, and then kicked him on both sides of his head. He then delivered a strong punch to the Third´s right cheek, and then kicked him hard, sending him sprawling backwards.

"You saw how I reanimated the first two Hokages with ease," Orochimaru continued. "Bringing back your parents wouldn´t be any harder."

Torabu changed his facial expression, showing his doubt. "But, those two aren´t real," he countered.

"True… But if you want your parents back in flesh and blood, then I can do that."

The cat-boy narrowed his eyes and broke free of his opponent´s grip, stepping backwards a little. "Since you know so much about my parents," he started, "I want you to answer something."

The snake-man raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Were you the one… who killed my parents?"

The two just stared at each other, standing still like statues. And then, after a moment of silence, Orochimaru shrugged. "In a way, yes," he answered bluntly. "But it was not my hand that held the knife which severed their lives´ thread."

Torabu narrowed his eyes. "So, you killed them, but didn´t want your hands dirty," he figured.

"Now that I have answered your question, it´s time for you to answer mine," the snake-man stated, smirking wider. "Do you want your parents back, yes or no?"

The troublemaking ninja clenched and unclenched his fists, his Chakra Claws disappearing and his face looking down at the rooftop. "I… I don´t know…" he muttered.

Orochimaru then held up his left hand. "Perhaps a demonstration of my powers will convince you."

Torabu looked as his opponent held out his hand to his left and opened his palm. A shining light then appeared, and when the cat-boy looked, his eyes widened in shock. Standing on the rooftop, a shining white light surrounding them, two people in white kimonos stared at the troublemaking ninja with eyes full of happiness. One was a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and blue eyes, the other was a strong man with green hair and red eyes.

Torabu easily remembered them as the same two people who appeared dead in his nightmare. "M…Mom…? Dad…?" he asked.

The two people in white smiled warmly and opened their arms, welcoming their son.

The cat-boy slowly walked towards his parents. "It´s really you… You´re back… You came back to me…" Once he was up to them, they embraced their son in a big hug, tears running down their eyes. And shortly afterwards, tears ran down Torabu´s eyes, too. "I knew you would be back…" He looked at his parents´ faces. "You´ll never leave me again, right?"

They both stared directly into his eyes… and nodded.

The Third Hokage coughed as he slowly stood up, holding his stomach in pain. "As quick and strong as ever, I see," he muttered, rubbing his sore face.

Then, catching him by surprise, the Second jumped out of the water behind Sarutobi, grabbed him, and plunged down into the water. _Fighting the two of you at once is quite a challenge,_ the village leader thought as he struggled to get free.

Breaking free of his opponent´s grasp, Sarutobi burst out of the water and quickly climbed the wall of mud. And then, the Second fired powerful jets of water at the wall, breaking through it at two different places. The jets managed to cause the part of the wall between them to break loose and come crashing down, taking the Third with it. The water disappeared again, and the pieces of the wall crashed into the rooftop without breaking through it, and Sarutobi survived and landed safely on his feet, very exhausted.

Just then, he saw several thick roots burst out of the rooftop! His eyes widened, but when he saw the First Hokage standing while making a hand-seal, he understood what was going on. "The hidden Jutsu of the First Hokage…!" he figured and bit a hole in his thumb.

"Secret Earth Jutsu: Deep Forest Creation!" the First Hokage cried.

In an instant, a forest grew out of the rooftop and the damaged wall of mud! Sarutobi leapt from growing branch to growing branch, doing his best to avoid getting squished. But after a while of leaping around, some branches managed to wrap around his limbs, restraining him.

"Looks to me like this fight is over," Orochimaru stated with a smile as he changed his attention to the fight.

Torabu was completely unaware of his surroundings, having forgotten all about the chaos that occurred. All that mattered was that his parents were back and with him. He knew that, no matter what happened, his mother and father would protect him. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the comfort that his parents gave him.

Sarutobi struggled hard, but he managed to press his right palm against one of the branches. "Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!" he cried. "Monkey King Enma!"

Orochimaru frowned when he saw the ensuing puff of smoke, and slightly more when he saw the one who was summoned. "Hmm… So, a pesky newcomer has arrived…?" he asked.

The one who was summoned by the Third Hokage, the one called Enma, was a big monkey with white fur on its body and tail. He had long white hair, long sideburns, and a goatee. It also wore clothes: a black suit with mesh armor underneath, and over it was a sleeveless kimono shirt with white fur trimmings and tiger-like stripes on it. The kimono shirt was held closed by a sash, and a Konoha ninja headband adorned the monkey´s head.

Enma saw Orochimaru and scowled. "It´s you again…" he said. "I should have known this would happen…!" He glared at the Third Hokage out of the corner of his eye. "You fool, Sarutobi! You should have killed him when you had the chance!"

"Better late than never…" Sarutobi replied, his voice almost a wheeze.

The Monkey King smirked and closed his eyes. "It´s too late now," he stated.

Gathering up strength, the village leader shouted, "Quickly, Enma! Adamantine Nyoi!"

Orochimaru´s eyes widened, and then he ordered his slaves, "Stop him, now! Do not let him transform!"

The two first Hokages then ran up the trees to where the Monkey King was at. But when they reached him, Enma proved to be powerful by smashing the Second through the branch he stood on, block a kick from the First and kick him over to another branch.

"Transform!" the monkey cried.

Enma disappeared in a puff of smoke, and when it cleared, a staff had taken his place. The staff suddenly changed size and extended one of its ends in order to break through the branches that restrained the Third Hokage. Once free, Sarutobi jumped up, grabbed the staff, and landed on another branch, ready to fight again.

"Good for you, old man," Orochimaru congratulated, a smirk spreading across his face. "At least you´ve made this a little more… interesting." He then slowly pressed both hands on his stomach, and then a snake emerged from his mouth. But then, to Sarutobi´s surprise, a long katana emerged from the snake´s mouth!

_The Sword of Kusanagi…! _Sarutobi mentally gasped as the snake retracted back into its master´s mouth and Orochimaru grabbed the katana. "Are you ready, Enma?" he asked as he extended the staff a little and entered a battle stance.

"_No matter how strong my body is, the Sword of Kusanagi will still hurt me!_" Enma said from within his staff form.

The Third Hokage leapt up into the air and extended his staff down to crush Orochimaru, who dodged by leaping out of harm´s way. Sarutobi then shortened his staff and landed on the rooftop, spinning his weapon over his head while his opponent held his katana in front of him. The village leader then rushed close to his opponent to strike, but the snake-man just blocked every hit with his sword. Gritting his teeth in anger, Orochimaru leapt backwards up on one of the branches, and then leaped towards his former sensei, the sword raised over his head. Sarutobi held up his staff and extended it, forcing Orochimaru to abort his attack and dodge.

The snake-man, once down on the rooftop again, blocked another extended-staff attack with his sword and pushed so that he would not lose his balance. But then, caught off guard, the Third Hokage was swept off his feet by the First. Sarutobi managed to throw a paper slip on the First´s leg, and when his staff got knocked out of his hands by the Second, he managed to place a paper slip on his leg as well.

The village leader then got kicked in the face by the Second. Stabbing his sword into the tiles, Orochimaru ran towards his opponent whilst saying, "He´s mine!"

The Third Hokage was then punched three times in the face by Orochimaru, and then kicked across the jaw so that he was sent down on his back. "That was foolish," the snake-man mocked. "Trying to fight the three of us without using your Shadow Clone Jutsu…" He walked over to his downed opponent and stood over him with his legs on either side of his body. "Alright, Sensei, don´t tell me you´re through already." He reached down to grab his former teacher´s collar. "You, the great sage who has mastered all the Jutsus of Konoha? The legendary professor and warrior? Oh, I´m so disappointed…"

As the snake-man broke into a sinister and diabolical laughter, an eye appeared on the adamantine staff. _What´s wrong with you, Sarutobi?_ Enma asked in thought. _Surely, you didn´t summon me just for this… to watch you crumble. What´re you waiting for? Now is the time to defeat him!_

Sarutobi looked weakly up at his former student´s sick and twisted face, a tear escaping his eye. _Orochimaru…_ he weakly thought. Then, his expression changed into one of rage. "Orochimaru… _**YOU´RE A FOOL!**_"

Without warning, the Third Hokage grabbed his opponent´s arms, swept his legs off the rooftop and kicked him in the face. And then Enma´s arm extended out of the staff and grabbed Orochimaru´s neck, strangling him. "It´s over!" the Monkey King growled. "I´m going to snap you like a twig! It should have been done years ago!"

But as the monkey´s grip tightened, the snake-man turned into mud and splattered over the rooftop. He then arose from the midst of the pool of mud, a devious smirk on his face. Sarutobi then punched his former student in the face, sending him sprawling backwards. Before the two reanimated Hokages could attack, the village leader made a hand-seal, and then the paper slips on the zombies exploded, taking the body part they were attached to with them!

As the Third Hokage stood up, he saw that the pieces of exploded limbs were gathering back together on the rest of the body they belonged to, healing it. _I should have known…_ he thought. _It´s useless to attack their bodies as long as their souls are bound to this earth by Orochimaru´s will. So be it. I have only one weapon left: the Fourth Hokage´s Jutsu._ He clasped his hands together, preparing to make a hand-seal. _First Lord Hokage, Second Lord Hokage, forgive me for using this Jutsu, but I must!_

"What is it, Sensei?" Orochimaru asked as he stood up again and walked over to his sword. "You look a little out of breath. Long day? You poor thing… All you really want is to take a long, quiet nap, isn´t it?" He chuckled.

"Why are you laughing?" Sarutobi asked, ignoring the taunts.

"Should I be weeping?" the snake-man asked. "It´s sad to see how old you´ve grown… You who were once hailed as the supreme ninja…"

The Third Hokage was the taken by surprise when his former student peeled off his face and revealed the face of a woman underneath it! "W-What is this?" he asked. "Who the devil are you?"

"You _have _lost it, old man," Orochimaru said in a very feminine voice. "Don´t you recognize me? It´s me… Orochimaru."

Sarutobi´s eyes widened. "It can´t be… So you managed to master _that_ forbidden Jutsu?"

Orochimaru just smiled widely and laughed in a feminine manner.

"You´re no longer human; you´re a demon!" the village leader exclaimed.

Orochimaru just continued laughing, his laughter turning from mockingly into downright insane. Then, once he had calmed down, he said, "It´s been ten years of hard work since I´d left the village."

"This is why I could never choose you to become the Fourth Hokage!" Sarutobi stated. "Your mind and soul are twisted!"

* * *

><p><em>Ten years ago, a younger Sarutobi and a couple of ANBU agents were running down a flooded hallway. Upon reaching a door, they heard sounds of utensils being used. The Third Hokage gave a signal, and the agents kicked the door open and entered. The room behind the door had many shelves that were holding countless of jars along one wall, many coffins along another, and in the middle of the room were two things: a desk with a single lamp illuminating it, and Orochimaru, his back turned against the intruders and his hands busy with something.<em>

_The snake-man suddenly stopped whatever he was doing and chuckled. "So, I´ve finally been found out, eh?" he asked, turning his head to look at his unexpected company. "Aw, such a pity…"_

"_Orochimaru," Sarutobi growled through gritted teeth, "explain yourself! What is the meaning of this?"_

"_And after I set all those booby traps to give me plenty of warning… Heh. I wasn´t expecting _you_… I should have known… you can get past anything."_

"_A steady flow of people have gone missing from the village," one of the agents stated. "Genin, chunin, even ANBU black ops – many of them were last seen with you; and you´ve been acting rather strange, lately."_

"_You, a superior ninja!" the other agent shouted. "How could you have done such a thing?"_

_Orochimaru chuckled again. "Now I´ll have to kill you, as well," he mused._

"_So you admit it," the Hokage stated. "Then it _is _all your doing, Orochimaru! But why? What exactly are you up to in here?"_

"_Oh well…" the snake-man sighed. "Since you´ve caught me red-handed, there´s no point in pretending, now is there?" He turned around to fully face his visitors. "It´s research. I´m developing Jutsu."_

"_And for that, you sacrificed your fellow ninjas?" the first agent asked._

_Sarutobi narrowed his eyes. "It´s forbidden Jutsu you´re after, isn´t it?" he asked. "Just what is it you want?"_

_Orochimaru smiled widely. "I want _everything_!"_

"_Everything?" the Hokage repeated, an eyebrow lifted. "What exactly?"_

_The snake-man held out both of his arms to his sides. "I want to know every Jutsu in the world," he answered, "and even those Jutsus yet to be discovered. I´m like the one who first took blue and yellow, cautiously mixed them together and created a new color: green. Only, in my case, the color blue represents chakra, the color yellow a hand-seal, and the green the Ninjutsu. And just as there are countless shades of color in the world, there must be an almost limitless number of Jutsus."_

_He stepped aside to show that his desk was covered in scrolls and utensils such as scalpels and scissors. "To find them, to unlock the truth long hidden from mortal eyes, it takes years, endless experimentation. Ultimately, the truth reveals itself only to one who proves himself worthy, one who is willing to sacrifice years of his life. But alas, I have found out there are not enough years in even the longest life. This mortal existence is too fleeting."_

_He smirked wider. "Yes, even if I _were_ named Hokage, one day I would die, and it would be the end of it."_

"_Orochimaru," the Hokage began, "what sort of forbidden Jutsu have you been seeking here?"_

_The snake-man blinked in amusement. "Oh, I think you´ve already guessed," he said. "Eternal youth and immortality!"_

* * *

><p>"The immortality Jutsu," Orochimaru stated, "a technique for eternally recycling one´s spirit on earth – in a way, it´s a kind of revival Jutsu. You find a body – a <em>young <em>body – pour your spirit into it, and make it your own." He chuckled again. "I was using my old, familiar form until now, because I wanted our reunion to be a nice, nostalgic one, Sensei. Growing old is a sad, empty thing; I only have to look at you to be reminded of that."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "You will die here, old man, while I move on to another stronger body. But first, I really must thank you… and all of Konoha… for preparing my next body so well."

Sarutobi gasped as he figured out his former student´s plan. "Now I understand," he said. "It´s Sasuke Uchiha!"

Orochimaru licked his lips. "Exactly," he acknowledged. "You guessed it. It´s Sasuke I want."

The Hokage glared angrily in disgust at his opponent. "So you mastered a Jutsu that preserves your soul forever in the bodies of others," he stated. "How many bodies has it been already? How many faces?"

"Hmm… two or three, perhaps, but I´ll wait for Sasuke until he´s ripe for the picking," the snake-man said, pride dripping from his voice. "Tell me, which face do you prefer me to wear?" Without letting his former teacher answer, he put back on his real face and his voice returned to normal. "Perhaps it will be easier for you to look on a familiar face… as you die, cursing your brief, wasted life."

"I will not go down so easily!" the Hokage swore.

A sadistic light shone in Orochimaru´s eyes. "Well then, if not you…" He turned his head to look at Torabu. "…then _he _will."

Sarutobi gritted his teeth. "You wouldn´t…!"

The snake-man smiled widely and lifted his right index finger. As if moving on its own, the Sword of Kusanagi rose up from the tiles and aimed its blade at the troublemaking ninja. Orochimaru turned his head to look at his old sensei once again, seeing the sweat running down his wrinkled face. And the moment he let his index finger fall, the sword flew towards its target at a fast speed.

"Torabu! MOVE!" the Hokage shouted as he ran towards the blissfully unaware genin, leaving Enma behind.

Torabu suddenly felt something push him, and he saw his parents distance from him. And then, when he became confused, the two in white disappeared into thin air, his surroundings entering his line of sight once again. "W-What happened?" he asked.

He then looked around and saw two things, and both were horrifying. The first thing was the wall of mud and the forest that have suddenly appeared.

The second… was the Hokage, barely standing, blood oozing from his mouth… and the Sword of Kusanagi impaling his chest. "Torabu… escape… from here…!" he wheezed and fell forward on the rooftop, the sword pushed out of his body by the tiles.

"Lord Hokage!" the cat-boy gasped, kneeling down next to the village leader and turning him around so that he lied on his back.

Coughing up some more blood, Sarutobi weakly looked at the troublemaking ninja. "Listen, Torabu…" he began. "Orochimaru… cannot be trusted… No matter what he offers… fame… fortune… even happiness… all of it is a lie… All he thinks about is himself, his own earnings… and nothing else."

The old man held up his left hand and placed it on Torabu´s shoulder, the boy now crying tears of sadness. "You must… run away from here… Do your best to break this barrier… and get as far away from him as you can…" He coughed again. "I am the Third Hokage… I am the leader and protector of Konoha… and I want everyone in my village to be safe… So… therefore… run… away… now…"

And with that, his body laid still, his hand falling off of Torabu´s shoulder.

Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, has taken his final breath…

Orochimaru chuckled at the scene. "Well, the old fool finally kicked the bucket," he said. "It´s a shame I didn´t kill the boy before that, but it´s the result that counts." He narrowed his eyes in a deadly fashion. "Now I just have to put this cat down, and then I can sit back and watch as this village crumbles apart."

Torabu´s hair overshadowed his eyes. He did the honorable thing and closed the Hokage´s eyes with two of his fingers. He then stood up and removed his headband from his neck. "Torabu the king of pranksters is no more," he said, wiping his eyes with the back of his left hand. "He realized that his presence only caused grief to those around him – not very serious grief, but still." He turned around to face Orochimaru. "From now on, someone else can have that title. From now on, I will put all my attention into training. From now on, I will protect this village with my heart, body and soul."

He tied his headband around his forehead, showing it to his opponents. "From now on…" He glared at the snake-man and his to zombie cronies. "…I am Torabu Maka, proud protector of Konoha!"

With that said, his eyes shone with a light-green glare and an aura of light-green chakra surrounded him. Other than the glare in his eyes, there were also three other things:

…Justice…

…Rage…

…And a desire for revenge.

* * *

><p>dopliss: And so, we have here in this chapter Orochimaru´s ambition, the Third Hokage´s death, and a buildup for Torabu´s most difficult fight yet.<p>

Mizuki: Now we only need me back in this story, and then it´ll finally be good.

dopliss: We´ll see if you say the same once I´ve let you sleep the whole night in a turned-on microwave!


	51. Chapter 51 Sand Sibling showdown

**dopliss: And so we continue. Sorry for not updating last week, but even I deserve to enjoy my vacation.**

**Mizuki: No, you don´t.**

**(dopliss smacks Mizuki on the head)**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. All hail summer vacation!**

* * *

><p>The Sand Siblings had stopped on a tree branch to take a breather. Despite how quickly they moved through the treetops, their pursuer kept closing in on them. Temari had even set up a lot of tripwire traps that, when triggered, would create a small explosion big enough to damage the unfortunate person who set it off. And yet, despite her efforts, they had been caught up to by the one chasing them.<p>

"I´ve finally caught you," Sasuke said, no hint of exhaustion in his voice as he stared down at the trio from a higher branch. "Did you really think that I´d let you get away?"

"Oh jeez…" Kankuro growled in annoyance.

"If it isn´t Sasuke Uchiha…" Temari unhappily greeted.

Sasuke smirked and held up a kunai by its blade. "This is as far as you guys go," he said.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, rushing through the trees, the rest of Team 7 and their canine companion were still on the move. "I sense that Sasuke has stopped moving," Pakkun informed, "but he´s still a long way ahead of us."<p>

The two genin easily realized what that meant.

"Did I just smell what I think I smelled?" Pakkun thought aloud, catching his temporary teammates by surprise.

"What is it? What´s wrong?" Naruto asked as the three of them came to a stop on one of the branches.

"You smell some kind of trouble?" Sakura asked, worried and exhausted.

"Strange I never noticed it before…" the dog muttered. As the two humans gave him alarmed looks, he looked at the pink-haired girl. "Sakura… did you know you use the same shampoo as I do?"

Sakura was, to say the least, stunned by the revelation. So much so that she became pale with horror.

The dog took another sniff as his muzzle formed a grin. "Minty rainforest mist, right?" he asked. "With extra body?"

Naruto´s reaction was more on the opposite end. "Wha— Are you kidding me?" he asked in anger.

Pakkun ignored him, however. "But I wonder why my coat looks so much glossier than yours…?" he continued as Sakura leaned up against the tree they were currently on.

"Knock it off, will ya?" Naruto shouted. "It´s no time to be talking about hair products!"

The dog looked at his other human companion, a glint of humor in his eyes. "Sorry, just making an observation," he laughed.

Sakura was absolutely stuck in a state of mental degradation. "I smell like a dog… I smell like a dog…" she muttered sadly over and over again, a figuratively black cloud hanging over her head as she awkwardly jumped onwards on their route towards their third teammate.

"Look what you´ve done…" Naruto groaned as he followed the pink-haired girl, hoping to knock her out of her funk at some point.

"Where are you going?" Pakkun shouted, returning to the matter at hand. "You won´t get very far without me!" And with that, he followed the two genin.

* * *

><p>Kankuro looked at his unconscious brother, desperation in his eyes. <em>Oh man, Gaara, where are you when we need you? <em>he asked in thought. _You picked a lousy time to be out of commission. This Uchiha kid is trouble!_

He looked back at his pursuer and scowled. "So? What´re you gonna do, huh?" he asked, his voice tough.

Temari leapt up into the air and threw kunai at Sasuke, who easily dodged the projectiles. "Go, Kankuro!" she ordered as she landed on another branch. "Get Gaara away from here! I´ll take care of this one!"

"Don´t be a fool, Temari!" the puppet master growled. "This kid´s too much to handle all by yourself!"

"Don´t argue!" she snapped back. "Our mission is to make sure that Gaara is safe. He´s our first and only priority." She gave her brother a confident smirk. "Don´t worry about me. This is what I´ve been waiting for." She focused her gaze on Sasuke. "Get going, Kankuro!"

The eldest brother of the Sand Siblings nodded and leapt away with his little brother hanging over his shoulder. "No, you don´t!" Sasuke hissed and threw kunai after the two, but unfortunately missed.

The last member of Team 7 tried to follow his earlier opponent, but Temari intercepted him. With a battle cry and her fan fully opened, she swung her weapon and created a wind burst strong enough to push her opponent backwards. She knew that she was at a disadvantage, because her fight with Shikamaru had taken a lot of her chakra.

_I´m in real trouble if he uses his Sharingan, _she thought. _I´ve got to force him to use up a lot of his chakra and quickly – it´s my only chance._

Sasuke was also in the middle of plotting his own strategy. _Should I use the Chidori and knock her out quickly? _He clenched his fists. _Sure… why not._

Sasuke leapt away from the branch he stood on and threw shuriken at his opponent, who swung her fan and sent the weapons into the surrounding trees. Temari knew that the Uchiha was holding back and therefore unleashed her Wind Scythe Jutsu upon him the moment he landed on another branch. He quickly leapt away from the storm as the branches he stood on were cut in half. She unleashed her attack again, but this time Sasuke counterattacked while leaping away from harm´s way, throwing a bunch of kunai towards her.

"Is that the best you can do?" Temari asked as she swung her fan again. "Sandstorm Jutsu!"

The blast of wind was a lot more powerful, and not only did it deflect the kunai, but it pushed Sasuke against one of the trees. He quickly crawled over to the other side of the tree in order to get out of the storm. But instead of cutting any obstacle in its wake to pieces, the technique somehow spread sand on the branches.

_I got to find a way to separate her from that fan!_ Sasuke thought frantically.

He then leapt up to one of the higher branches and made a hand-seal. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" And with that said, he blew several small fireballs towards Temari.

She smirked at the actual effort that her opponent was showing and leapt off the branch and down to the ground, the fireballs colliding with the earth around her and creating a ring of fire. She quickly looked up and saw Sasuke make hand-seals again. The moment he fired his Fireball Jutsu at her, she countered with her Wind Scythe Jutsu, dissolving the flaming projectile and forcing him to leap backwards. Unfortunately for the young Uchiha, he landed on one of the sandy branches, causing him to slip and fall backwards.

"You´re mine!" Temari roared as she leapt towards him in the air, her fan ready.

As soon as she was close enough, she threw kunai towards him at point blank and struck him in the chest. He landed painfully on the ground, and she landed with grace a few seconds later. She got closer to her opponent in order to check on him, but then Sasuke transformed into a log. Her eyes widened when she realized that he had used the Replacement Jutsu, and they widened even more when she saw the paper bomb attached to the piece of wood!

She shielded herself with her arms as the slip of paper exploded powerfully, but she was still sent flying backwards and skidded painfully to a halt on the ground. Wincing in pain, she still had enough strength left in her body to look up at one of the branches where Sasuke stood on.

"Gotta run!" he called. "I´ve wasted way too much time on you already."

And with that said, he was gone from her sight, leaving her panting and hurting all over. "Hopefully… I held him off long enough… for Gaara to get away…" she said in-between pants.

* * *

><p>Back in Konoha, Ibiki and his allies had problems with taking care of the three-headed giant snake that was tearing through the village. Several of their troops had fallen, and no attack seemed to have any effect on the massive serpent.<p>

"Ninja Art Summoning: Bring Down the House Jutsu!"

From out of nowhere, a massive toad fell out of the sky and landed on one of the snake´s heads, crushing it instantly. "That Jutsu…!" Ibiki realized.

Standing on top of the toad´s head was none other than the Toad Sage himself. "Long time no see, Ibiki!" he greeted. "My, my, what have they been feeding you? You used to be such a little squirt."

The exam proctor stared at the old pervert, wide-eyed. "Master Jiraiya…!" he gasped.

One of the ninjas beside him also gasped. "Jiraiya? One of the sannin?" he gawked.

"Alright, you baby chicks!" Jiraiya called as he turned to face the two remaining heads of the snake. "Open wide those beady little eyes of yours and watch closely!" He jumped a little on his right foot and struck a pose. "When it comes to dealing with otherworldly freaks and monsters, no one´s better than a strange hermit ninja! Thank goodness that Jiraiya´s here!"

The snake´s two living heads looked at the Toad Sage in confusion.

"Now, unless you wanna make this frog _really_ mad, you´ll never bother us again!" the Toad Sage warned the snake heads – not that they would, or could, understand him.

Ibiki leapt up upon the toad´s head and kneeled down respectfully for the sannin. Jiraiya turned his head to look at the proctor and asked, "Where´s Hokage?"

"The battle arena," was the answer.

The old pervert narrowed his eyes as he looked back at the snake. _Don´t die on us, Hokage, _he thought in worry.

* * *

><p>Back in the forest, Kankuro had been caught up to by Sasuke. Panting, the young Uchiha asked, "You through running away?"<p>

"Who says I was running?" Kankuro retorted, also panting. "I´ll take you on, no problem."

"Wait!"

Surprising both boys, Temari appeared from above them and landed next to her brother. "Temari?" Kankuro gasped. "When he showed up and you didn´t, I thought… he must´ve finished you."

"He could have…" Temari panted, still not recovered from her tussle with the Uchiha. "And why he didn´t… I don´t know…" She stood up straight. "Guess I didn´t delay him for very long, did I?"

"It´s okay," her brother stated. "Every second gives Gaara more time to recover. And the more chakra Uchiha´s forced to give up, the better for us."

* * *

><p>Pakkun sniffed the air again. "There it is!" he said aloud.<p>

"What, someone´s shampoo?" Naruto asked skeptically, and for good reason.

"No," the dog irritably replied. "I smell Sasuke! He´s not alone; I smell others with him. He´s caught up to them!"

"At last," Sakura, no longer feeling degraded, sighed in relief.

"They´re close together and they´ve stopped moving," Pakkun informed. "This could mean a fight." He took another sniff and widened his eyes. "Seems like we´re not the only ones tracking Sasuke – there´s someone else out there!"

"Who is it? Friend or foe?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"I don´t know… but… there´s something wrong with it."

* * *

><p>"I´ve got this, Kankuro," Temari said to her brother. "Get Gaara out of here, now!"<p>

Surprising his sister, the puppet master laid his little brother down on the branch he stood on, leaped forward to another branch, and removed his wrapped-up puppet from his back. "Temari… you take Gaara and go on ahead," he ordered. "You´re all worn out; look at yourself!" He smirked. "Go on – you´ll only be in my way."

"Wait a second!" Temari protested.

"GET MOVING!" Kankuro barked angirlly.

Temari was unsure of what to do, but after having taken a look at her two brothers, she caved and fled the scene with the redhead.

"Okay, Uchiha!" the puppet master said toughly. "It´s time you picked on someone your own size!"

Sasuke simply smirked. "Whatever you say," he shrugged.

Suddenly, both of them saw something being flung upwards between them. Looking down at the forest floor, they saw the one who threw the object: Konran. "I am sorry, Sasuke," he said, "but this one has my name written on it."

Sasuke was surprised. "How did you find us?" he asked.

The blue-haired member of Team 6 smirked up at the Uchiha. "Your constant leaping through the trees gave vibrations," he explained. "Vibrations that started from the branches, ran through the rest of the trees, and down into the ground. By listening to your movements through the ground, I managed to track you."

Kankuro glared down at the newcomer. "Whaddya want, pipsqueak?" he asked, annoyed. "And what do you mean, 'your name written all over me'?"

Konran focused his gaze on the puppet master. "I might not know why Sasuke is chasing your brother, but I know why I am chasing you: to have our match."

Sasuke smirked. "So am I."

"Then you better hurry, or else Gaara might escape."

Sasuke gave a quick nod and took off. "Oh, no, you don´t!" Kankuro shouted and leapt towards his brother´s pursuer, his puppet under his right arm.

While the puppet master was in midair, Konran quickly jumped up to him and delivered a downwards-going crescent kick to his back, sending him down to the ground. Kankuro landed on his feet, and so did his opponent a few seconds later. "Believe me, Kankuro," the blue-haired boy said, "I am much more interesting than Sasuke."

Kankuro frowned. "I doubt it," he stated.

"Well, I can certainly say that you and your siblings are very interesting to me, what with working for Orochimaru and all."

The puppet master´s eyes widened. "How do you know about that?" he asked.

Konran held his arms behind him. "Sand ninja attacking Konoha, when Orochimaru is the founder of the sound village? Something like that does not make sense unless there is something going on between those two villages." Behind his back, his hands were making hand-seals.

Kankuro grunted and pulled in one of the loose bandages, unwrapping his puppet´s bindings quickly. "Okay, you know that," he said as he made strings with his chakra and connected them to his puppet, "but how do you plan on beating me?"

Konran chuckled a little. "Throwing rocks," he answered.

Kankuro wondered about what his opponent meant by that, but then he was caught off guard when a huge boulder came flying towards him! He quickly leapt out of the way, but as the boulder crashed against the ground and shattered, a second boulder appeared and headed towards him, too.

As his opponent kept dodging boulders that were coming out of nowhere, Konran smirked to himself. _This is perfect, _he thought. _As long as he is evading my Boulder Bullet Jutsu, he cannot focus and attack me at all._ His hands separated and made two very different hand-seals. _Now for the finishing move…_

Kankuro slowly became exhausted as more and more boulders attacked him. He glanced over to where his opponent was and saw a victorious and arrogant smirk plastered all over his face. _He´s planning something… but what?_

Tired of being the one on defense, Kankuro leapt up into the air and commanded his puppet to attack. When the wooden being attempted to strike, however, Konran jumped twenty feet into the air! When Kankuro landed on the ground again, he was stricken full on anxiety when he looked at where his opponent was. The boulders were not coming after him, but instead lined in a diagonal line between the two competitors.

"Earth Style: Meteor Kick!" Konran roared.

The blue-haired boy became surrounded by a red aura of chakra, and then he sent a flying kick towards the line of boulders. The moment his foot came into contact with the first rock´s surface, it totally shattered, and the pieces somehow curved around the rest of the line and crashed into the ground surrounding Kankuro!

The puppet master watched wide-eyed as boulder after boulder got easily destroyed and their pieces crashing down around him. _This is bad!_ he thought. _He´s leaving me no place to be safe, and even if I _do _manage to get out of this circle of death, who´s to say he can´t just rearrange the line of boulders? There´s only one thing I can do: leap out of the way when he´s close enough!_

Kankuro waited patiently, teeth gritting nervously as his opponent came closer and closer. And then, the moment he saw the last boulder in the line shatter, he tried his luck and jumped. The puppet master had not taken account for the powerful velocity of the boulder-shattering kick, and therefore had not taken account for the miniature explosion that occurred from the impact. Kankuro screamed as he was flung through the forest at an incredibly dangerous speed, no one knowing where or when he would stop.

Konran stood up and looked around. The forest floor was littered with shattered rocks, and a crater was formed underneath him. He smirked and placed his hands on his hips. "Looks like I am still as strong as ever," he said cockily.

As if karma was striking him, he suddenly felt an incredible pain in his abdomen. His green T-shirt slowly became stained with a crimson color from the inside. "Damn…!" he groaned, clutching his stomach with both hands. "My wounds… they are opening…" Gathering the rest of his strength, he ran back towards Konoha, searching for medical treatment.

* * *

><p>dopliss: Short chapter, yes, but the next ones are all worth it.<p>

Mizuki: Hey, I got a question for you.

dopliss: Fire away.

Mizuki: If you´re here now, then how come you´re also somewhere else in your other story?

dopliss: Oh, that´s easy. You see, the other story is number two out of twenty-two, while this is story one out of twenty-two. Chronologically, this story and all that happens in it is written first, and all that happens in the author´s notes in the second story happens in the future.

Mizuki: So… you´re writing something now that happens in the future… while still in the present?

dopliss: Don´t think too much about it.


	52. Chapter 52 Torabu's stand

**dopliss: And here we have chapter 52! I would have written it sooner, but family matters forced me to watch over my two dogs all alone.**

**Mizuki: You don´t sound very happy…**

**dopliss: I´m more of a cat person, but my mom´s allergic.**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. I wish I had a kitty…**

* * *

><p>Orochimaru stared at Torabu, absolutely no hint of seriousness in his eyes. "Brave little speech, but you know as well as I that you won´t live to fulfill your vow," he said.<p>

Torabu said nothing, glaring daggers at the leader of Konoha´s murderer.

The snake-man cracked his fingers, his amused grin growing wider. "Alright… if you´re so willing to throw your life away, then I am certainly not one to stop you," he said and looked at his two slaves. "You two, take this kitty´s nine lives away from him."

The two Hokages ran towards their feline opponent. The First reeled back his right fist and threw a punch when he was close enough, but the cat-boy jumped into the air and delivered a downwards-going crescent-kick to the back of his head, knocking him down. He then jumped towards the Second, who prepared to kick the troublemaking ninja with his left leg. When the attack came, Torabu dodged to the side, grabbed the limb that attacked him, and kicked his opponent in the face with his right foot. He took a quick look over his right shoulder and saw the First back on his feet and heading towards him. Killing two birds with one stone, he swung the Second around in circles, knocked the First on his back, and then let go of the Second and let him crash into his ally.

Casting a quick glance back at Orochimaru, Torabu asked, "You´re just letting them toy with me, right?"

The snake-man shrugged. "It would be too boring if I made them kill you on the spot," he stated playfully.

Torabu returned his gaze to the two Hokages, who by now had gotten on their feet again. His mind set on ending this fight so that he could fight Orochimaru without any interference, he manifested his Chakra Claws and rushed towards the two zombies. He sliced through the First´s waist and wrists and vertically cut through the second, causing the separated body parts to fell down on the rooftop.

The cat-boy turned back to face Orochimaru and raised his clawed hands. "Your turn, creep," he hissed.

The features on the snake-man´s face did not change, yet he was filled with internal delight as he saw the Hokages reassemble and get back up. "Oh, I beg to differ…" he replied cryptically.

Taken by surprise, the cat-boy was swept off his feet by a leg, and then smashed downwards by a couple of strong fists. The real pain came to him when he felt his left knee collide with another knee and he heard a crack. He screamed out in pain as he clutched his left leg, which now bended the opposite way at the knee! The First then grabbed the troublemaking ninja´s tail, powerfully swung him around, and then released him, sending him flying towards one of the barrier´s walls. He quickly reacted and dug his claws into the rooftop, tiles cracking as he slowed his flight.

"I am SO sick of people using my tail to their advantage!" Torabu growled. He knew that he could recover slightly if he snapped his knee back into place. But then, just before he could do that, he noticed that he could only see Orochimaru and the First Hokage.

His answer of where the Second was became answered when he felt someone´s weight crush his left calf. He screamed out in pain again and was kicked in his right side, sending him skidding across the rooftop. When he stopped moving, he slowly got up back on his feet. His left leg was numb and unresponsive, feeling more like a lump of flesh with shattered bones, and his left foot was twisted at an impossible angle.

"You´re up the creek without a paddle, boy," Orochimaru mocked whilst laughing. "How _are _you planning on becoming a 'protector of Konoha' if you can´t even beat these two?"

The cat-boy growled and turned his head to look at the snake-man. "If you shut up, then I´ll show you," he replied, flipping him the bird.

Orochimaru tilted his head in mocking curiosity. "How, by using that 'ultimate defense' of yours?" he asked. "I doubt it´ll work when you only have one leg to stand on."

_I hate to admit it, but he´s right, _Torabu thought glumly. _Not only does he know about the Double-Edged Counter Jutsu, but there´re too many opponents and one of my limbs are broken. And furthermore, those two zombies of his seem to be indestructible. Quick, Torabu, THINK!_ He looked around frantically, trying his hardest to figure out a plan. That was when he saw Enma, still in his staff form. _Where did THAT come from?_

He snapped back to attention when he saw a huge torrent of water heading towards him. Using his right leg, he managed to leap over to the staff, quickly grab it, and used it as a crutch. "_So, finally deciding to help, huh_?" Enma said.

The cat-boy was surprised when he heard the staff actually _talk. _"Whoa!" he exclaimed in shock. "I didn´t knew weapons could talk! Then again, there was that turtle and then there´s my old sensei…"

"_I´m not born a weapon_," the Monkey King said, figuring out that the boy did not see him when he first appeared. "_My name´s Enma – that´s all you need to know. Now, let´s go kick some zombie ass!_"

Torabu smirked. "You got it!" he agreed, readying the staff for combat.

Outside of the barrier, the four disfigured sound ninjas were joined by another member from their village: Dosu. The bandaged boy, without his shattered sound-manipulating device, walked up to the four-armed man and asked, "Is everything going according to plan?"

"So you know, huh?" the man replied. "Well, Lord Orochimaru´s killed the old man, so now all that remains is that mutant brat in there."

Dosu looked inside the barrier and saw the one who flawlessly bested him in the Chunin Exam. He narrowed his eyes and growled in bloodlust.

Torabu blocked several punches thrown by the First Hokage by using Enma. It was difficult for him to stay on his foot, but currently he did fine. He jumped over a leg-sweep from his opponent and slammed the staff down on his head. He then pole-vaulted over to the Second and swung his staff, aiming for the side of his face. The zombie blocked the attack by grabbing the staff, and his opponent retaliated by planting his right foot into his face, knocking him back.

Landing on his foot again, Torabu growled, "This isn´t working! No matter how hard I hit ´em, they keep fighting!"

"_Quick! Hold me horizontally!_" Enma ordered.

Having nothing else to rely on, the cat-boy did as he was told. Using his powers, Enma extended himself and knocked into the two Hokages, pushing them into two sides of the barrier, the walls instantly igniting them. Yet, despite this, the two zombies managed to keep staying 'alive' and pushed the staff ends off of them.

"Great," Torabu said sarcastically. "Not only are they tireless and indestructible, now they´re on fire."

"_Hey, it was worth a shot!_" Enma defended.

The two Hokages came running towards their opponent at the same time and threw punches and kicks, which Torabu barely had the time to avoid. Still, even if the attacks missed, the strong heat from the flames slightly singed the cat-boy. As this continued, he was forced backwards towards one of the walls.

"_Hey, kid!_" Enma warned. "_If this keeps up, you´ll be fried!_"

"I´m burnt toast if I stay still, and I´m burnt toast if I keep dodging," Torabu complained. "Either way, I´m gonna be roasting."

"_Well, isn´t there _anything _you can do?_"

The cat-boy glared down at the staff. "Well…" he started, "there is one thing I can try, but…"

"_But what?_"

"But it´ll drain a lot of my chakra, not that it isn´t already low enough from all the fighting I´ve been doing today." He looked up and behind the attacking Hokages, focusing on Orochimaru. "And I wanna give this guy a piece of my mind."

"_Kid, not for something, but if you don´t act quickly, the only pieces you´ll be giving Orochimaru are pieces of burned body parts._"

The troublemaking ninja turned his head to look behind him and saw that the barrier wall was just a few steps away. "I guess I don´t have much choise," he said, dropping the staff and making hand-seals. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

After a huge cloud of smoke dissolved, the two Hokages were surrounded by five dozen Torabus! The zombies appeared unimpressed at first, but then they saw every single clone create a ball of ice in their hands. "Ice Style: Subzero Sphere!" the clones shouted as they threw the balls at the zombies, instantly freezing them solid.

"NOW!" the real Torabu screamed.

Obeying the command, the rest of the clones all blew up in a fiery explosion. Orochimaru shielded himself from the blast, looking on with an impressed glint in his eyes. When the dust settled, there was only one very exhausted and panting Torabu and one Monkey-King-turned-staff left. There was absolutely no trace of the two Hokages.

The snake-man giggled. "I gotta say, I´m impressed, boy," he said, clapping his hands. "I didn´t think a little genin like you possessed enough power to utterly destroy my Hokages, but you proved me otherwise." He slowly approached Torabu while staring directly at his exhausted form. "And look at you now. You look like you´ll drop dead at just a simple attack." He reeled back his right arm, tightening his hand into a fist. "Let´s see if that´s true, shall we?"

He threw the punch, but the cat-boy grabbed the fist in his left hand, pushing back with all his might. Amused, Orochimaru threw another punch with his left fist, but it, too, was grabbed. "I… won´t… give up…!" Torabu swore.

The man chuckled, showing his teeth. He pushed his opponent back a little, showing that he was toying with him. "It´s no use, Torabu," he stated matter-of-factly. "Your chakra must be at its lowest by now. To put it simply: there´s nothing that you can do against me."

The troublemaking ninja bared his teeth. "There is… _one _thing…!"

Orochimaru suddenly felt a cold sensation running up his arms. He looked down at the locked limbs, eyebrows raised. And then, a few seconds of staring later, he found that he was unable to move his arms; not even twitch a finger. His confusion grew slowly turning into anxiety. And then, with a mighty scream, Torabu pushed forward.

Orochimaru let out a scream of pain. He felt the bones in his arms crumble and break like glass! He staggered backwards and looked wide-eyed at his damaged arms. They looked awful; they looked like two very long stockings of flesh with something weighing them down at the fingertips. He looked back up at Torabu and fearfully asked, "W… What have you DONE?"

As the cat-boy panted harder now, a victorious smirk spread over his lips. "Oh, nothing much…" he said cockily. "All I did was just freezing the bones in your arms and _shatter them to a billion pieces_!" His smirk grew wider. "Good luck trying to do something ever again!"

An actual look of horror formed on the snake-man´s face. "No… NO!"

Torabu looked down at his right hand. "Oh, and by the way," he said, creating another Subzero Sphere, "I still have just enough chakra left for one… more… attack…"

Using the last bit of energy that he had, the troublemaking ninja threw the ice-ball at Orochimaru, who was too stunned by what had transpired to move. How could this have happened to him? He could reanimate the first two Hokages, end the life of the Third, but yet he was royally handicapped by a mere lowlife genin? This whole thing was impossible – inconceivable!

Fortunately for the snake-man, the four sound ninjas dissolved the barrier, and the four-armed man flung Dosu into the ice-ball´s course, the projectile hitting him instead! "Lord Orochimaru!" the four of them shouted as they arrived at their lord´s side, Dosu´s now-frozen body crashing into pieces on the rooftop.

Snapping back to his surroundings, Orochimaru ordered, "Call off the attack! We´re retreating to safety!"

The four of them looked shocked. "B-But…" the red-haired girl meekly protested.

"NOW! We are leaving now!"

And then, grabbing hold of their leader, the five of them were off, fleeing from Konoha. Torabu stared at the scene and laughed as he fell onto his back. He had not killed the murderer of his village, but he was happy enough with the fact that he seriously injured him. As he laughed, he slowly became tired by the second, until finally falling asleep.

Enma transformed back into his normal form and hovered over the cat-boy. "You did well, Torabu," he said. "Your rest is well deserved." He looked over at Sarutobi´s body and folded his hands in a prayer. "Rest in peace, my old friend."

The battle for Konoha was now over.

* * *

><p>dopliss: Yeah… this chapter was pretty short – probably the shortest ever – but at least we all learned one thing.<p>

Mizuki: And that is?

dopliss: My weakest point is writing good fight scenes.


	53. Chapter 53 Monstrous Gaara

**dopliss: Ladies and gentlemen… this update, the twenty-sixth of July, is a very special one. If you look closely, you can see why.**

**Mizuki: Oh, it´s because it´s been one–**

**dopliss: Shh… You´re ruining the moment…**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. Happy anniversary, everybody!**

* * *

><p>After having been unconscious for the whole chase in the forest, Gaara slowly awoke. With a tired grunt, he opened his eyes and noticed his exhausted elder sister. "Gaara!" she exclaimed in relief.<p>

He turned his head to look at her, apparently not caring that they were jumping from tree branch to tree branch. "Temari…" he growled, "put me down…!"

She turned her head to meet his gaze. "You sure you´re strong enough, Gaara?" she asked, worried. She landed on a branch and put her brother down, the redhead shortly after holding his head and groaning in pain. "Gaara!" she gasped and looked at his wounded shoulder. Frightful, she looked back at where she came from. _There´s no telling of how long Kankuro can delay Uchiha. Every second counts._

She took out a small bottle from her clothes and opened it. Seeing this, Gaara slowly stood up and glared at her. "Leave me alone, Temari…!" he wheezed, turning around. "Go away! You´re nothing but a nuisance…!" With that said, he backhanded her with his left arm, hitting her with enough force to send her flying into the tree´s base. "I don´t need you…!"

He looked sharply at the opposite direction of where they were headed and spotted his previous opponent standing on a tree branch that was higher up, a frown on his face. As the two boys stared daggers at each other, Temari looked with wide eyes at the young ninja from Konoha. _Sasuke Uchiha? _she mentally gasped. _Did he get past Kankuro already? _She shook her head in denial._ No… it was too quick. Someone else must´ve shown up…_

"I have no idea of what scheme you sand village clowns have got going," Sasuke proclaimed, "but I´ll stop it, no matter what it is!" He narrowed his eyes, watching as Gaara´s sand armor cracked. "Besides… I´m dying to see what you really are!"

The redhead let out more pained screams as he held his head in an attempt to subdue the pain and his armor showed more cracks. Temari´s eyes filled with fear as she saw her brother´s misery. "Oh no!" she gasped. "It´s happening! Any second, he´s going to let that _thing _out! No! Not now! Not _now_!" Trying to get her brother back to his senses, she shouted to him, "No, Gaara! Remember our mission!"

The sand-user ignored his sister´s pleas, however, focusing his entire mind on the member of Team 7. "We´re so alike, Uchiha," he said. "I don´t have friends as you have, but _they´re _not what makes you strong! It´s your purpose that does it! In _that _way, we´re alike!" He felt his mind struggle to remain intact, his inner demon wanting to unleash hell upon the Uchiha boy. "But mine is the stronger purpose! For only by destroying you and all you represent can I even prove that I exist! Only by killing you can I know what life is!"

The growing bloodlust in Gaara´s eyes and the words that he said caused Sasuke to remember something that happened during his training for the Chunin Exam finals.

* * *

><p><em>Kakashi looked at a big rock on the mountaintop that he and his student were currently on. "I sense a trace of bloodlust in the air…" he thought aloud. "Alright, come on out."<em>

_From behind the rock, Gaara stepped out in the open and revealed himself to the two. He glared directly at Sasuke, who glared back, and demanded, "Tell me, what is your true purpose? Why is it that you seek power?"_

"_Like it´s any business of yours," Sasuke rudely replied. "Beat it. You´re interrupting my training."_

_After a long silence consisting of nothing but glaring, the redhead finally turned around to leave. "I see it," he said. "You have the eyes… eyes that seek power and will do anything to get it… even kill. Eyes full of hate… like mine. We´re the same." He began walking. "Never forget… you are my prey."_

"_Hold on!" Sasuke suddenly called, causing the redhead to stop and turn around. "Why me? Why are you so fixated on me?"_

_After a little silence, Gaara answered, "I see in your eyes you know what loneliness is. True loneliness. You understand that it is the most painful form of suffering that there is in the world. As I said before, we have the same eyes – eyes with the hunger for power, full of hate. The same as me: eyes that seek revenge on those who made your soul lonely… eyes that burn to see them all dead! It´s all in your eyes…"_

_Sasuke knew that this was true._

"_Okay, hang on a minute here," Kakashi interrupted. "So you´re the one called Gaara. Seems you can read a lot in Sasuke´s eyes. Be careful – you might not be able to read him as well as you think. If there is something you wanna say before the final rounds, go ahead and spit it out."_

_Gaara closed his eyes. "When we finally fight," he said, "it won´t be to advance to the next stage, but solely for survival." He opened his eyes. "One seeking to destroy the other… Only the last one standing will feel the value of his existence."_

"_You´re not talking about a match, you´re talking about some kind of grudge bout to the death," Kakashi stated. "It´s crazy."_

"_Uchiha… in the depths of your soul… it´s what you want to, isn´t it? You want to confirm the value of your existence, don´t you? To know if you´re truly as powerful as you think you are. Whose existence is stronger, yours… or the one facing you with murder in his eyes?"_

* * *

><p>"You…" Gaara growled menacingly. "You are mine…!" He fell down on his knees as the pain increased in levels. His gourd broke open, and the contents of millions upon millions of grains of sand covered his body. "You aRe mY PrEy! <em>MY PREY!<em> **My**! _**PREEEEEEEY!**_"

The sand altered its master´s appearance, turning him into something demonic. His right arm had become a long, sandy-brown and clawed appendage with purple markings all over it. A big, tail-like limb had grown from the gourd. And his face, now set to look like the one belonging to a madman, had its right half altered to look like that of a raccoon, complete with sharp teeth, a yellow eye with black sclera, and a triangular ear protruding from the top of his head.

Sasuke and Temari were struck with fear, but the latter was hit the hardest. Too frightened by the sight before her and returning memories, she closed her eyes and shielded herself with her arms.

Gaara looked back up at the boy from Konoha with his disfigured face. "Now… LeT mE fEEl It…!" he said, insanity oozing out of his voice.

Sasuke could easily remember the arm and the yellow eye from his earlier fight with the redhead. The sand ninja leapt towards his opponent with a big amount of speed that was never seen coming from him up until now, reeled back his right arm while opening its fingers, and let out a bloodcurdling scream. Sasuke managed to get out of harm´s way just in time, but the impact of the attack was so powerful that it managed to shake the earth and anything connected to it for a small while.

Sasuke panted from behind the tree that he was currently on and grabbed his neck in pain, an obvious sign that the curse mark was acting up again. Taking a peek at his deranged opponent, he could not help but think this: _Looks like I may not finish this before you catch up with me, after all, Konran._

Another punch was sent from Gaara, and the Uchiha boy managed to jump away just in time. "Is he human or… _monster_?" he wondered aloud to himself.

The redhead looked around in search of his opponent, a wicked smile on his face. "WhY dO yoU Hide, SasUke UchIha?" he asked loudly. "Do I _FrigHten _yOu? Are yOU shOckED by my tRuE Form? Come oUT, come Ou**t, SaSukE UcHiha! **To lIve… I mu**st KILL… and YOU are MY PREEEEEY!**"

Sasuke quickly jumped up to a higher section of the tree and then leapt towards Gaara, who managed to spot him, unfortunately. "So THERE you aRe!" the redhead shouted and swiped at the Uchiha boy, ripping a big piece out of him!

But then Sasuke turned into a log, and another Sasuke appeared behind the mutated boy. "Guess again!" he shouted as he flung six kunai at his opponent, who blocked them with his massive arm. Sasuke landed on a branch and quickly leapt away.

Gaara laughed as his arm sucked the knives into it, much to the shock of the Uchiha boy. "Here – yOu cAN hAVe tHem baCk!" he shouted and somehow fired the projectiles from out of his arm, throwing them at a speed so high that they became burning hot! They went right through Sasuke, and he faded in an instant. "Only a clone…" Gaara hissed in annoyance.

From behind a tree that was under and behind the redhead, Sasuke panted as he eyed his opponent. "This guy´s a freak…" he muttered.

Gaara looked around in search again. "WhaT´S Wrong… SAsuke UchiHA?" he asked. "Why do YOU Run and hIde? Why don´t you ATTACK?" Another sudden headache caused him to scream out in pain and fall to his knees again, his left hand pressed against his head and his right eye closed. "…Why do you always run away…?"

* * *

><p><em>Several years ago, in a park in the village hidden in the sand, a bunch of boys and girls were playing with a ball. A bit away from them were a young Gaara, the redhead peacefully sitting on a swing, a small teddy bear in his arms. He watched as the other kids were having fun with each other. But then, surprising him, one of the kids kicked the ball with too much force, and it ended up on the top of a very tall wall.<em>

"_Oh man, now what do we do?" one of the boys groaned._

"_I don´t know any wall-climbing Jutsu…" a girl muttered._

_Then, just as they expected their ball to be forever lost, a cloud of sand had caught the item of entertainment and carried it over to Gaara, who stood up and took the ball in both hands. The kids looked at the son of the Kazekage and took a step backwards. "It… it´s him!" one of the boys gasped in fear._

_Gaara looked down at the ground, knowing that the children feared him. But then he looked back at them, a small smile on his lips and a thought about making friends in his head, and held out the ball. "…Here…" he offered._

"_It´s that Gaara…!" one of the girls stuttered, eyes wide._

"…_He´s really creepy…" another said._

_Panic overtaking their minds, the children instantly made a run for it, desperate to get away from the redhead. Gaara stared at them with eyes wide. "No, wait! Don´t run away!" he called, reaching out to them with his right arm._

_The sand, misunderstanding the movement of its master, wrapped itself around two of the kids´ ankles and pulled them towards the redhead, the children screaming in fear all the while. As Gaara watched this, his fragile mind reached a conclusion: he wanted friends, no matter what._

Please… _he thought, focusing on his powers. _I don´t wanna be lonely anymore… Never again…!

_The sand raised and attacked one of its captures, but it was blocked when someone suddenly blocked its way, taking the hit. Gaara gasped when he saw who it was. It was a man with a rather feminine appearance, having sandy-brown hair, blue eyes, and was dressed in a kimono with a simple sash to hold it closed._

_Lowering his bleeding arms – which he had blocked the sand with – he looked at the redhead and shouted, "No, Gaara! You can´t do this!"_

"_Yashamaru…" Gaara weakly said, bowing his head in shame._

* * *

><p>Gaara roared in a mixture of pain, bloodlust and rage, froth escaping his mouth. "I woN´t let YoU get aWay!" he swore as he frantically looked for his opponent. "You CAn´t eSCapE, do YOU hear, SAsukE UcHiha?" He tore through a bunch of trees with his abomination of a right hand. "What´S WROng? You´RE noT aFraid OF me, aRE YOU? Yes, THAt´s it! You FEAR ME, Don´T yoU, UchiHA? YOU live in FEar eveRy day I´m aLIVE!"<p>

Sasuke watched as Gaara ripped trees in half like they were nothing while laughing maniacally. _This is unreal…_ he thought as he looked on. _His strength is off the charts! If this comes down to physical strength, forget it!_

As the Uchiha boy thought back to the conversation that he had with Gaara earlier, the redhead screamed in rage and impatience, "WhAt´S wRoNg, SasUkE UchiHa? ARE you reaLLY so aFRAID of ME? Has all YOUR HATRED and sense OF PURPOSE dwindled DowN to this abject FEAR? Is tHIS eXIstenCE you HavE now that of a COWARD? CoME ouT and FighT me! Show me ThAt I´m WROng! PROve thAT your existENCE is STOnger than MINE! You´ll never know UNLESS you FIghT me! You´ll never FEEL IT! _**ATTAAAACK!**_"

Sasuke stood up from his position behind the tree, determination in his eyes as he remembered his life´s purpose. _He killed everyone but me…_ he thought as he made hand-seals. _I was the only one allowed to live… for what reason? _Lightning gathered in his left hand. _No… I know the reason. He had to leave one alive… to spare himself the guilt of having exterminated an entire clan! By sparing me, Itachi chose me to be the avenger of the clan!_ His eyes had become Sharingan eyes. _He chose me to be the one to kill him!_

Gaara noticed the strong flashes and the sound of chirping birds that the Chidori was emitting. Knowing that he had been spotted, Sasuke stepped out of hiding, ready to finally fight back. The redhead laughed at the sight. "Good!" he said. "Now We´RE gonna HAVe some FUN, Sa**suKE UchIha**!"

"With one blow, I´ll finish this!" Sasuke swore.

The two boys leapt towards each other, Chidori-arm and giant-mutant-arm reeled back and ready to strike. When they were close enough, both of them made their attack…

…and Sasuke managed to cut the giant arm in half! Gaara screamed in severe pain as he fell down onto the closest branch in his path, while Sasuke just landed normally on another.

As the Uchiha boy looked back at Gaara to see if the battle was over, he became surprised when he heard the redhead chuckle. The low chuckle raised in loudness and insanity, until it was an eruption of mad cackling.

"I see…!" Gaara shouted as he stood up again. "So THAT´S what it is! Now it´s CLEAR to me why I´ve been looking forward to this!" He clutched his right arm with his left. "This… pain… What a THRILL it will be to CRUSH such an opponent capable of WOUNDING me so badly! Such a victory, it will make me feel TRULY ALIVE!" He crouched down, a scowl replacing his mad grin. "But there´s more… So much more!"

To the shock of Sasuke, Gaara´s right arm formed into its normal state and his right hand and tail wrapped around the branch that he stood on. He pushed himself as far away from the branch as he could and then catapulted himself towards his opponent. Sasuke managed to jump away from the crazy sand villager and hang on to the underside of an overhanging branch, just in time to see the redhead crash through the branch that he previously stood on. Gaara quickly turned around and extended the claws on his right hand, wrapping them around other branches and catapult himself back towards the Uchiha boy.

Using his Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu, Sasuke blew a massive fireball at his opponent, who blocked the attack by using his right hand as a shield. "YOU´RE **FINISHED!**" Gaara yelled as he punched his opponent through several branches and into the base of a tree, making a crater.

As Sasuke lay panting up against the tree, he remembered something that he had been told.

* * *

><p><em>Sasuke´s left hand gave its last sparks of lightning. The massive rock in front of him had two smoking holes in them, an obvious sign of being the unfortunate punching bag for the Chidori. "So… looks like you´re good for two bursts," Kakashi summarized. "That´s about your limit. At this rate of your chakra development, you´ve only got two shots of Chidori in you per day – and you weren´t using your Sharingan, which you would be in an actual battle. Sharingan and Chidori are a potent combination, but costly; using them simultaneously burns up <em>a lot _of chakra, and fast."_

_Sasuke looked at his left hand in awe._

"_Don´t sweat it. I´m actually very impressed. Even for me, Chidori´s a killer. If I had to use the Lightning Blade four times in one day, I´d be running on empty."_

_Sasuke turned to look at his sensei. "What would happen if I tried to use it more than twice?" he asked._

_Kakashi looked levelly at him. "Well, for one thing, it wouldn´t work," he replied. "But remember this: If you try to force a Jutsu, not only will it not work, but the attempt would drain your chakra to absolute zero. Worst case scenario: you die. Even if the worst doesn´t happen, nothing good can come out of this, trust me; especially in your case."_

* * *

><p>"Is tHaT it?" Gaara asked, disappointed. "<em>THAT <em>was the BeSt demonstration you COUld make of thE VALUe of your EXIStence? That´s just PATHetic, truly!"

Sasuke frowned in response.

"Your hatred… it´s WEAK!" the redhead continued. "You're FAR too soft and forgiving! The greater the hunger for REVENGE, the greater the HATE! And it´s the power of HATE that gives you the strength to KILL! Your hate is WEAKER than mine! FAR weaker!"

"Shut up…!" Sasuke hissed.

"You know what that means, don´t you?"

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled, growing angry.

"It means you can´t win! You are _**WEAKER **_than I am!"

_There´s a reason Itachi let me live… _Sasuke thought as he stood up. _The reason he chose me to track him down and kill him…_ He glared at his opponent with Sharingan eyes and his left hand sparked with lightning again. _I! Am! An _**avenger!**

The Uchiha boy leapt towards Gaara, and the redhead was more than willing to return the favor. However, due to this being the third time the Chidori was used for the day, it immediately dissolved into nothing.

The two clashed and landed on tree branches afterward. A long, eerie silence reigned between the two…

…and then, all of a sudden, Gaara´s right arm crumbled into the sand that it was before, revealing his normal arm underneath, the limb hanging limp. Sasuke _had _managed to use the Chidori again, but that was by using the curse mark!

While Gaara grunted in pain and his sand covered his left arm, Sasuke fell facedown into the branch, his body strained from today´s events. Not to mention what resisting the negative effects of the curse mark did to him. He watched as Gaara leapt towards him again, like a lion about to deliver the killing blow.

And he would have, had it not been for a certain orange-clad ninja kicking the redhead across the face. While Sakura and Pakkun landed next to Sasuke and checked up on him, Naruto scowled at Gaara, who scowled back in annoyance to taste blood, but internally felt joyful for having new flesh bags to rip open.

* * *

><p>dopliss: I hope y´all enjoyed this story´s anniversary. And like with the last arc, I´ll put the finale in three parts.<p>

Mizuki: Question.

dopliss: Uh, yes?

Mizuki: Will you be doing this to every future arc?

dopliss: Mayhaps… We´ll see.


	54. Chapter 54 Gaara's tragedy

**dopliss: (horrified) Oh no… The time is near again!**

**Mizuki: (puzzled) What time?**

**dopliss: School is about to start again!**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. Weep for my coming torture! WEEP!**

* * *

><p>Sasuke, as tired and numb his body was, managed to look up at his two teammates. "What… what´re you doing here?" he asked through gritted teeth.<p>

Sakura gasped as she saw the markings that covered most of her crush´s body. "Sasuke, hold on!" she said as he began writhing in pain. _Kakashi-sensei said it was nothing to worry about…!_

"Hey, uh, Sakura," Naruto said without turning away from Gaara. "Sakura!"

"What do you want?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

The orange-clad boy pointed at the mutated redhead. "This guy over here… who the heck is he?"

"His outward appearance may be different," Pakkun answered, "but he´s the one you know as Gaara."

Naruto was taken aback by that piece of information. He remembered back to when he encountered the youngest of the Sand Siblings in the hospital and how he told about how he had a monster inside of him. And what he saw right now was living proof of it. _So this is what he was talking about…!_

"Hey, little girl," the dog said to Sakura. "I guess now would be the time to tell you I´m not the fighting type."

"I can see that by looking at you!" she snapped, only to be interrupted by the pained moans coming from Sasuke. _In any case, we´ve got to get out of here! We need to get Sasuke back to Kakashi-sensei!_

Gaara hissed angrily at the newcomers. "What do you want?" he asked rudely.

Sasuke gripped his own neck, trying his damnedest to soothe the pain. Even with what Kakashi had told him about using the Chidori more than two times a day, he was also told that letting his hate consume him and relying on his curse mark would stop him from becoming any better, and therefore end his dream of killing his elder brother. Needless to say, he screwed up big time.

_Gotta get it under control!_ he thought frantically as he succumbed to more pain.

"So… it´s you," Gaara said to Naruto, remembering him. "You´re the one I didn´t kill that day."

Realizing how screwed that they were, Naruto turned around and shouted, "Guys, get up! We need to get outta here, now!"

But before they could flee, Gaara leapt towards his downed opponent, intent on dealing the finishing blow. "_**DIE, SASUKE UCHIHA!**_" he roared, his clawed left arm reeled back.

But that was when Sakura moved in-between the prey and predator, a kunai in her hands, ready to protect her teammate like a mother would protect her child. The redhead looked at the defending stance that the pink-haired girl was in and remembered how, back then, Yashamaru had protected those children with his whole body from the attacking sand.

However, that did not stop him. "MOVE IT!" he shouted, and his left arm extended, grabbed Sakura, and pushed her against the base of the nearest tree, her head painfully colliding with the trunk.

The redhead suffered from another headache, and as he was distracted, Naruto leapt over to the branch that he was on, scooped Sasuke up in his arms, and jumped away from the blood-hungry boy. As the orange-clad boy put down his teammate and rival on another branch, he thought frantically of what to do now.

Gaara´s mind was in a predicament. Those that he had wanted to murder were protected by their familiars – first Guy protecting Rock Lee, and now this – just like Yashamaru had done. It was like whenever he tried to kill someone, another had to step in and stop him. "Why can´t I…?" he wondered.

* * *

><p><em>Years earlier, in the village hidden in the sand, a young Gaara was staring at a picture of a woman with short sandy-brown hair and a smile on her face, a sharp contrast to the redhead´s small frown. He took a big knife, aimed it at the back of his left hand, and stabbed, only for the blade to be blocked by the sand. "It doesn´t matter what I do…" he said somberly, "the sand just gets in the way."<em>

_The sudden voice calling his name made the young boy turn to face Yashamaru, the young man now with bandages around his wounds and wearing an apron over his kimono."As a member of the medical team, our leader, Lord Kazekage, has asked that I see to your safety and wellbeing personally," he said, walking over to the boy, a kind smile on his lips. "Please, Gaara, it hurts me to see you do that."_

_Gaara looked down at the floor, ashamed. His caretaker scratched the back of his head and added, "Although, I suppose that the sand would protect you anyway."_

_Gaara took a quick glance up at the bandages that the man had around his body before looking down again. "Yashamaru… I´m sorry…" he apologized._

_The man looked at his arms. "What, this?" he asked, no change in his mood whatsoever. "Don't worry… it is barely more than a scratch."_

_The young boy, however, was not cheered up by that statement. "The wound you got… does it hurt?" he asked in a mixture of apology and curiosity._

"_Yes, a little bit… but it´ll heal in no time."_

_Gaara looked up at his caretaker again, ignoring the strong sandstorm that occurred outside. "Yashamaru… what does pain feel like?" he asked. "You see… I´ve never actually been injured before… and I was wondering what it was like."_

_Yashamaru looked surprised at the question, but then his expression turned thoughtful. "Hmm… how can I put it?" he wondered. "It´s… very difficult, or… maybe 'upsetting' is what I mean? It´s like… when someone is struck or cut… it´s a feeling that´s very hard to take. When you´re hurt, you don´t feel normal." He chuckled and scratched the back of his head again. "I´m not explaining it very well… Basically, it´s a situation you wanna avoid if at all possible."_

_Gaara was not getting any happier, especially not now that he found out that he put his only friend in a situation that, as he put it, 'you wanna avoid if at all possible'. He looked away as he asked, "Yashamaru… do you… do you not like me? Like the others?"_

_Yashamaru gave the redhead a pitying look, but then smiled good-naturedly. "Everyone goes through their lives hurting others, and being hurt," he said, "but it´s not so easy for us to hate one another."_

_That was just the thing that cheered up the boy. "Thanks a lot, Yashamaru!" he smiled. "That helped. I think I kind of understand what pain is now."_

"_I see…"_

_Gaara then looked down again, his smile dimming. "I think I might be hurting, too, just like everyone else," he said, clutching the left side of his chest. "I´m always in pain… I know I´m not bleeding, but lately I´ve felt a lot of pain here."_

_After a long silence, Yashamaru knelt down before the boy, took the knife away from him, and cut in his right ring finger, much to Gaara´s surprise. "Wound your body and the blood will flow, following fast on the heels of pain," he said. "But as time passes, the pain eventually fades away. With the help of medicine, it can heal even faster." He placed his hand over his heart. "But even more dangerous is a wound dealt to the heart, ´cause there is nothing that has more trouble healing."_

"_A wound to the heart?" the redhead asked._

"_Wounds to the heart are a little different from wounds to the flesh. Unlike an injury to the body, there is no medicine for a wounded heart, and sometimes it never heals." Upon seeing the return of Gaara´s frown, he added, "But don´t worry, there is one thing that can mend a broken heart, but it´s a very complicated remedy. It can only be administered to you by another person."_

_Gaara became curious again. "So then, what am I supposed to do?" he asked._

_Yashamaru turned to look at the picture of the woman, and so did the boy. "There is one thing that can heal the heart… only one…" He looked back at the redhead. "It´s love, Gaara."_

_Gaara looked back also, confused. "Love?" he asked._

"_You´ve got it."_

_The boy was still not enlightened. "But… but how am I supposed to get rid of it? What is it that I have to do to get rid of this pain?"_

"_Don't you know, Gaara? It has already been given to you." The two turned to look at the picture again. "Love is… a heart´s desire to serve someone precious to you… to watch over them… to care for them… like my sister did for you. There is no question that my older sister always loved you. Shukaku the sand spirit is a living soul bent towards the purpose of war. The sand automatically rushes to protect you, just like the love of a mother. I believe your mother´s will is carried in every grain of that sand." Yashamaru turned to look at his nephew again. "My sister… even after death… wants more than anything to protect you."_

_Gaara turned to look directly at his uncle. "Yashamaru…"_

"_What is it, Gaara?"_

_The young boy gave a smile full of gratitude. "Thank you for all of your help. You know, for stopping me before."_

"_You´re very welcome," the man smiled, sucking the blood off his finger. "After all, you´re special, Gaara; I hold you very dear to me."_

_Gaara, in a gesture of gratitude, pulled his uncle´s bleeding finger out of his mouth and sucked it himself. "It tastes like iron…" he commented._

* * *

><p>Back in Konoha, Kakashi and Guy were still busy with the invading sound ninjas. Guy´s powerful body and youthful spirit earned him the ability to take out each ninja in one strong hit. Kakashi, meanwhile, used a more deceptive tactic, giving his enemies a false sense of advantage for then afterwards to literally stab them in the back. The masked sensei spotted two more sound ninjas attacking from above, but both of them were quickly taken out by a mighty Leaf Hurricane from his rival.<p>

Landing right next to Kakashi, Guy asked, "Kakashi, how many did you take out?"

"Twenty-two," the masked sensei answered.

The youthful sensei let out a victorious laugh and flashed one of his oh-so famous smiles. "Looks like I win another round, old buddy!" he said as more sound ninjas appeared. "That last one I knocked out was my twenty-third!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" Kakashi shrugged, sounding bored.

"I love that too-cool-for-school attitude of yours! That´s why you´re my number one rival!"

With that said, the two were off to beat the stuffing out of more enemies.

* * *

><p><em>Gaara was running down the streets of his village, a smile on his face and a bag in his arms. It was dark out and there was a full moon on the night sky. He arrived at his destination, which was a house, and knocked the door. The one opening it was one of the boys that Gaara had accidentally hurt, whose face paled and eyes widened when he saw the son of the Kazekage.<em>

"_Sorry about earlier… I know it must´ve hurt," the redhead apologized, presenting the bag. "I´ve brought you some medicine, if you want."_

_The boy, however, was not one to forgive and forget. "Get out of here, freak!" he said coldly, slamming the door shut._

_Shocked by the incredibly cold rejection, Gaara dropped the bag and slowly left with saddened footsteps. As he walked home, he crossed paths with a drunkard, the latter of the two accidentally bumbling into the former. "Watch were you´re goin´, little brat!" he said, his words slurred from the alcohol that he had been drinking. Only when Gaara turned to look at him with angry eyes did the man pale with horror. "Y-You´re that kid!"_

_Wrath welled up inside of Gaara. _Again… _he thought. _Those eyes… why? WHY?

_Unintentionally, the sand killed the man on the spot, and Gaara just walked onwards, not looking back as people gathered around the scene of murder. As he walked on, he saw a man looking down at him with a stern look. He resembled Gaara, except he had auburn hair, no markings around his black eyes, and was dressed in a simple black jacket and pants with mesh armor underneath. That man was none other than the Fourth Kazekage._

_Gaara felt depressed by the look that his father gave him. He went back to his home and up on the roof, looking at the village with tearful eyes. _I was right… _he thought. _No one loves me… _He looked down at his hands. _Why? Why do I have to be such a freak? What… _am _I? _He pressed both hands up against his face, letting out soft sobs._

_He jerked his head up when he heard something getting blocked by his sand. He turned around and saw, with frightful eyes, one of the hidden sand village´s ninjas, all dressed up in battle gear and wearing a turban and a veil to hide his identity. Around him were a dozen of kunai, each of them levitating in the air due to the assassin´s Jutsu._

_Gaara´s fear and shock turned into wrath and bloodlust. _Why? Why me? Why is it always me?

_The man sent his kunai towards the redhead, who blocked with his sand and caught the assailant with more of it, covering all of him except for the head. Using his Sand Burial attack, Gaara closed his hand, and in the man´s body from the neck down, every bone were shattered. The sand disappeared and let the body fall down on his back._

_Fear returning to him, Gaara asked, "Who are you? What do you want?"_

_That was when he noticed something on the man´s body that made a lump appear in his throat: a bandage around the right ring finger. Swallowing hard, he walked up to the man and slowly reached down to pull the veil off, very afraid of what he was about to see. He pulled the cloth off, and true to his fear and anxiety, what appeared underneath it was the face of his beloved uncle, all stained with his own blood._

"_You did well, Gaara… you did very well…" Yashamaru said._

_Gaara could not handle this. Pain erupted like a volcano from his heart and head, and all he could do was to let out a scream._

* * *

><p>Gaara recovered from his headache and glared daggers at Naruto, who saw the viciousness in the redhead´s eyes. "What´s the matter?" the son of the Kazekage asked. "Weren´t you about to make a run for it?" He looked at the other members of Team 7. "Who are these two? Who are they to you?"<p>

The orange-clad boy stood his ground as he gained resolution. "Who are they to me? They´re my friends is who they are!" he answered angrily. "You try as much as laying a finger on the two of them, and I will _pulverize _you!"

Angered and tempted, the redhead laid more pressure on his left arm, causing Sakura to let out a scream of pain. He watched as Naruto just stood there, shocked. "What´s the matter?" he asked. "Weren´t you gonna pulverize me? Well, come on, then!"

"You´re on!" Naruto yelled as he leapt into combat. He tried to throw a punch, but Gaara´s tail smacked him back into the branch that he leapt from. He stood back up and swore, "I´m gonna save my friends! It´s all up to me!"

Responding to this, Gaara let out a crazy laughter. "And that´s exactly why you can´t win!" he said. "As long as you fight for the sake of others, you´ll never advance me on this level! Only one can remain undefeated, and only he will feel what it´s like to truly exist! Forget your friends and fight for yourself!"

Naruto gritted his teeth. "You´re insane…" he said. "Forget my friends?"

"The trivial feelings like friendship and loyalty clouds your focus and you´ll die!"

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking while you can," Naruto replied "´cause I´m about to shut you up once and for all!"

Another headache gave the redhead more pain.

* * *

><p><em>Gaara was crying, his heart aching from both knowing that his own uncle, his only friend, had attempted to murder him and from seeing him in pain. Amongst his agonizing sobs, he managed to press out a question: "Why? Yashamaru… why did you do it? I don´t understand… Tell me why…" He wiped his eyes with the back of his right hand. "I thought… Yashamaru… if I´m precious to you… how could you?"<em>

_Yashamaru looked up at the dark sky. "…It was an order…" he answered. "You see, I was ordered… to kill you, Gaara… by Lord Kazekage… your father."_

_Gaara´s eyes widened in shock and he almost puked. "My father…?" he asked as more tears flowed down his cheeks and onto the rooftop. "Why would… my father…?"_

"_You were born with the Shukaku, a living sand spirit, inside you." Yashamaru coughed up a little blood. "All these years, you´ve been watched and studied, as part of a great experiment. It became clear that you can never control it… the Shukaku that possesses the power of the sand itself. The day is coming where your existence will be too dangerous for the village… it had to be done before then."_

_A slight breath of relief washed over Gaara. "You… you had to obey my father…" he figured. "You didn´t have any choice…"_

_The bleeding man sighed deeply. "You´re wrong… I _had _a choice."_

_All hope that the redhead had was flushed down the toilet when he heard those words._

"_Yes… Lord Kazekage made his wishes known to me… but… I could´ve refused if I had chosen to. I suppose it´s because… deep in my heart… I hate you, Gaara. I´ve always hated you. My sister died bringing you into this world… I can´t forgive you for that. I told myself that you were all that was left for her… and since I loved her… I should love you. I tried… but I never could. It wasn´t her choice to have you… to be made a human sacrifice… and so she died, cursing this village. The day she died, I felt a wound in my heart that would never heal…"_

_He looked directly at his nephew. "Your name is… the one your mother gave you. Your name is Gaara… a demon who loves only itself... as you must love no one else. Care for no one´s existence but your own… fight only for yourself… In that way, you´ll be sure to survive. This is the dying gift your mother left you… but not out of maternal affection. It was not from love that she gave you your name… it was from her undying rage at this village… It was part of her curse… that you should survive and grow. Her hate lives on in you. You were never loved, Gaara. Never."_

_Yashamaru opened his jacket, revealing hundreds of paper bombs! "This is it," he said as the explosives were lit. "Please die."_

_And with that said, Yashamaru blew up in a massive explosion. But the suicide bombing was futile, however, as Gaara´s sand formed a shield around its master to protect him. Gaara fell down on his knees as his mind struggled to comprehend the scenario. The only one who had ever treated him like a human being had just proved that he was lying all this time. And it caused the redhead to disbelieve all that Yashamaru had told him about pain and love… especially the part where he told him about how the sand represented his mother´s love for him._

_And that was when his mind shattered._

_Fueled by hatred and contempt for every single human being in the world, Gaara forced the sand to attack the left side of his forehead. He screamed out in pain and anger as the sand carved in the kanji for 'love' on his forehead, forever reminding him of what he fights for and feels for. That was when he finally understood the perspective of everyone else whenever they saw him._

So that´s Gaara… me… I understand now. I´m alone… I no longer care about anyone… or love anyone else. I´m alone… I´m all alone… _I _am all that matters.

* * *

><p>"What´s the matter?" Gaara asked. "Why don´t you attack? Don´t you care what happens to your precious friends?" He squeezed down some more on Sakura, causing her to let out another scream.<p>

"Let her go!" Naruto yelled. He was struggling with what to do. Right now, what he needed to do was both get his two teammates to safety and somehow stop the redhead from causing further damage. But doing this alone would prove to be an impossible task. He needed help.

And that was when an idea crossed his mind. _This is gonna use up a hell of a lot of chakra, but…_ he thought, making hand-seals. _It´s time to bring in the Chief Toad!_ Biting a hole in his thumb and pressing his right hand against the branch, he used the Summoning Jutsu…

…and brought out a normal-sized orange toad with purple markings all over his body and wearing a tiny vest. "What is it?" it asked, annoyed. "What do you want, kid? Well, whatever it is, I hope you brought along some treats. ´Cause if you think I´m doing anything for nothing, you´re wroooooong!"

Naruto was certainly not in the mood for jokes right now. "Oh, gimme a break!" he shouted in annoyance. "I´m really starting to hate you stinking frogs!"

"Oh-ho-ho! An anti-amphibian, huh?" the toad said. "Well, take that, you big bigot!" He stuck out his long tongue childishly.

"Listen, I don´t have time to play games with you, you slimy little squirt!"

Gaara laughed as the sand covered more and more of his body. "Worried about the others? That´s your big mistake!" he said. "When I fight, I fight for me and me alone!"

The sand now covered most of the redhead, except for his hair and legs. His left hand detached itself from the rest of the arm, and a new one grew in its place! "O**nl**y by att**acki**ng and d**efeat**ing me can you f**re**e her!" he said. "And you **sh**ould h**urr**y! For **eac**h pa**ssing** se**cond**, the s**an**d will ha**rde**n, until it c**rus**hes her to de**at**h!"

Temari was watching the battle and her transforming brother from afar. _He´s getting closer and closer to a total possession…_ she thought. _And if that happens, none of us will survive!_

"Sand Shuriken!" Gaara shouted and swung both of his arms, sending many clumps of hardened sand towards Naruto at such an amazing velocity that getting hit would probably pierce through the target.

Naruto quickly picked up the toad and leapt out of harm´s way, but ended up hitting the trunk of a tree and fall down to another branch. "Wow… boy are you pathetic," the amphibian commented. "So, who the heck is this freak, anyway?"

Naruto looked long and hard at Gaara. He could easily see it in his eyes… loneliness. The same loneliness that Naruto felt most of his life. Everyone hated him, and he never knew why… until it was revealed to him that he has the Kyubi inside of him. Even though it was never his fault, everyone treated him like it was the one who caused pain and misery. But there was one thing that differed Naruto from Gaara: friends. If it had not been for Iruka, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Torabu, Sairento and Konran, he would probably have ended up just like the redhead.

The pained sounds coming from his pink-haired friend snapped the orange-clad boy out of his thoughts. "Wh**at**´s the m**att**er?" Gaara asked. "Are you afr**ai**d of me? Or are yo**u** s**til**l th**in**king of the b**es**t way to save your fri**en**ds? Fool! Fo**rge**t them! Th**in**k only of y**our**self! Love only y**ours**elf! That is w**ha**t it m**ea**ns to be the st**ronge**st!" He bared his claws, ready to kill. "What´s w**ron**g? You w**ere** so bold and cocky be**fore**! Show me your st**ren**gth! Let me g**rin**d it into dust b**efor**e your eyes! A**ttac**k, you c**owa**rd! Fight me, or I´ll **kil**l the girl ri**gh**t now!"

"Okay, you asked for it!" Naruto roared and leapt towards his opponent. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Crying out the name of the technique, he summoned a dozen of clones.

Gaara inhaled a lot of air through not only the mouth on his head, but also through several mouths that appeared all over his body! "Wi**nd** St**yle**: Sa**ndsto**rm De**vastati**on!" he roared and blew a powerful burst of wind at Naruto and his clones, destroying every one of them and pushing the original into a tree. "I t**hin**k I´ll toy wi**t**h you for a w**hil**e! I´ll w**atc**h you ab**and**on your fri**en**ds and beg for m**erc**y before you d**i**e!"

Gaara then pummeled his opponent with a barrage of Sand Shuriken, knocking the orange-clad ninja back further and further until he crashed into a tree. At that point, Naruto felt a strange feeling inside of him, and then felt a rush of determination. He recovered from the attack and swore, "I must win this fight, even if it might kill me!"

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><p>dopliss: Next update will be the final update for a while.<p>

Mizuki: Because you´re going back to school! (laughs his ass off)

dopliss: You really hate me, don´t you?


	55. Chapter 55 Final bout with Gaara

**dopliss: Okay! Here we are, guys; the final chapter of the Chunin Exam arc!**

**Mizuki: You better make it good.**

**dopliss: No promises, but I´ll try.**

**Disclaimer: dopliss no own Naruto. Me caveman. Me talk good.**

* * *

><p>Gaara glared at Naruto, bemused. "W<strong>ha<strong>t is t**hi**s?" he asked. "You c**ome** at **m**e, and **that´**s a**l**l you´**ve g**ot? All th**a**t ef**fo**rt, and you co**uld**n´t even to**uc**h me. Wh**at** a J**OKE**!" His detached hand squeezed down harder on the captured and unconscious Sakura.

Naruto glared back while he wrapped a paper bomb around a kunai. "I don´t really know how much damage I can do," he said, "but it doesn´t matter. I just have to give it my best shot!"

Naruto then made a hand-seal and summoned four Shadow Clones to aid him. "Clone Body Slam!" they all cried and leapt towards Gaara.

The mutated redhead simply smirked and reached out his right hand to intercept them, catching three of the clones. The last clone and the original landed on the huge arm, and then the former threw the latter towards his opponent like a torpedo. When Gaara attempted to punch Naruto with his left arm when he was close enough, the orange-clad boy created another clone, both to act as a stepping stone and to take the blow. When he was behind the mutated boy, Naruto created another clone to use as a stepping stone and leapt towards Gaara´s backside.

"Take this!" Naruto roared. "Konoha Secret Taijutsu, straight from one of my closest friends! One Thousand Years of Death!"

He actually did the same 'technique' that Torabu had used on him long ago. Except he did not stick his fingers up Gaara´s mutant rectum… but the kunai with the paper bomb wrapped around it! The reactions from the three onlookers – Temari, the orange toad and Pakkun – were different but negative; Temari blushed while closing her eyes, the toad just gave a blank look, and Pakkun commented sarcastically, "An enema… great."

Gaara, obviously annoyed, knocked Naruto away with his right hand (the clones all gone, mind you), leaving the kunai… hanging. That was when the paper bomb ignited and exploded. Naruto´s flying course made him crash into Sasuke, both of them grunting in pain. "Hey, are you okay?" the former asked the latter.

The dog, having shielded himself from the explosion, changed his opinion on the strategy. "That was a nice move the kid pulled," he muttered.

"Uh-huh," the toad agreed whilst shielding itself with its hands on its head. "So, did he get him or not?"

When the smoke from the explosion cleared, Gaara emerged with his backside and right arm gone, dissolved back into sand. "All that work… and you only scored one blow," Sasuke commented to his teammate.

Naruto just huffed and turned his head away from his rival. "Oh, put a sock in it!" he growled, irritated.

Gaara placed his left hand on the tree that he stood on to keep his balance. "He attacked the base of the tail, where the defense is weakest…" he thought aloud. "He didn´t wound me, but the sand couldn´t absorb the impact. Have I underestimated him?"

Sasuke looked at his teammate with total seriousness in his eyes. "Naruto… listen to me," he said. "You have to save Sakura, if it´s the last thing you do. Once you´ve got her, I want you to take her and flee as fast as you can. It´s all up to you…" With a lot of struggling, he managed to stand up. "I can… hold him here… a little longer. If it ends here… it just means this was as far as I was meant to go. I lost everything once… I do never wanna have to see that again… my trusted comrades falling in front of me."

"Your comrades?" Naruto asked, surprised. He remembered how Kakashi had claimed that he would never allow his allies to suffer from death and how Sakura stood up against Gaara. That was when everything made sense to him. "I get it now…" He stood back up. "Of course…" He looked directly at Gaara. "He´s no different than I am; going through life with the exact same sadness and loneliness that I had to carry. He fought only for himself, never relying on anyone, and because of that, I thought that he possessed strength. I really did." He clenched his fists. "I don´t know… I guess I should have known better. That´s not what real strength is – if you never fight for anyone but yourself, you´ll never be strong, no matter what you do!"

Memories of his conversation with Haku in the forest came back to him, especially what he said to the orange-clad boy. "_The truth is, when a person has something precious to them they want to protect, it´s only then that they become genuinely strong. You will get strong. Very strong._"

Making another hand-seal, Naruto unleashed all of the remaining chakra inside of him. And then, in a massive cloud of smoke, to the surprise of everyone watching, a whopping one thousand Shadow Clones appeared! "Gee, I´m sorry," the orange-clad boy said sarcastically. "I didn´t mean to keep you waiting this long. So get ready for an original Jutsu straight from my Ninja Handbook!"

Gaara looked around in shock. "What the… How could he have summoned so many clones?!" he asked, bewildered.

"Way to go, there, Blondie!" the toad congratulated. "You´re showing off a lot of promise!"

Sasuke looked at the original Naruto with wide eyes. "How did you… do this?" he asked.

Naruto replied without turning to face his rival, "Sasuke… why don´t you take it easy for a while? You´ve deserved it. Just leave the rest to Naruto Uzumaki!"

The clones all leapt to attack at the same time. Every single one of them threw a shuriken at Gaara, whose body of sand was not recovered yet. He blocked the weapons with his left arm, just to be blindsided by the clones and sent into the air. All one thousand of the clones then ruthlessly pummel the redhead, weakening the sand even more, and finished up by kicking him downwards, giving him a very hard landing on the ground.

"This time, I´ll use both legs for a barrage of four thousand kicks!" all of the clones shouted as they advanced on their opponent.

Gaara looked up at the incoming clones, rage clouding his mind even further. _Where did this come from… all of a sudden?_ he asked in thought. _Where did that strength come from? There´s no way…! Not to him…!_ His pupils shrank down in size as he roared, "There´s absolutely no **way… I´m gonna lose to a guy like him!**"

Suddenly, a gigantic pillar of sand emerged from Gaara, destroying all the clones and sending Naruto crashing into a tree all the while. When the orange-clad boy looked up, the pillar was gone… replaced with something far, far, _far _worse. It was a raccoon-like beast with its body colored in a sandy-brown and with purple markings all over its body. Its gigantic mouth was jagged and concave, and its eyes had black sclera, yellow irises, and the pupils were in the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it.

This was the true form of Shukaku.

"So that´s it… the monster inside of him…" Naruto said, stunned.

"Well, what do you know…" Gaara´s voice sounded, despite the Shukaku not moving its lips. "I never thought you would bring this out of me!"

The moster raised its right hand and aimed it at Naruto. Sand coming from absolutely out of nowhere appeared around the orange-clad boy and started to strangle him! Sasuke wanted to help his teammate, but the overuse of his chakra kept him immobilized. Naruto had used up all of his chakra on creating all of the clones, but he would not give up, his mind determined to save his friends. Even as the sand created a miniature prison around him, he took a bit of the blood that ran from his mouth and made hand-seals.

"This is the end for you!" Gaara roared. "Sand Buria– "

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Breaking out of the sand and appearing in a puff of smoke, Gamabunta the Chief Toad made his appearance! Shukaku glared evenly at the toad that was as tall as it, an amused smile crossing its lips. _Naruto Uzumaki…_ Gaara laughed mentally. _You really are good at amusing me._

"What the hell?" Gamabunta grumbled, looking up at the orange-clad boy who stood on his head. "Not you again… What is this?" He then looked forward and saw the gigantic monster. "Well, would you look at that… Shukaku the Sand Spirit."

Naruto smirked. "What do you say? Will you fight it alongside me, Chief Toad?" he asked.

The gigantic toad breathed out smoke from his pipe. "Take a hike," he replied, much to the orange-clad boy´s shock and anger. "Why go out of my way to mess with a guy like him? What am I, an idiot?"

"Why, are you kidding me?!" Naruto shouted. "You already told me you would make me your henchman, didn´t you?!" He slammed his left hand down on the toad´s head. "It´s only natural for a boss to help out his henchman, isn´t it?! Don´t you have any sense of duty?!"

Gamabunta sighed. "Yes, sure, I told you I´d make you my henchman… but we haven´t even sealed the deal yet, have we?"

"Come on! Gimme a break!" Naruto shouted louder. "I´m not old enough to make any kind of a deal yet! What´s the matter with you?!"

Suddenly, the orange toad appeared on top of the boy´s head. "Aw, c´mon, Pops, don´t be like that," he said to the Chief Toad. "Why don´t you settle down and hear the kid out?"

"Huh? 'Pops'?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"And just what do you think _you´re _doing here, Gamakichi?" Gamabunta asked.

"I had nothing else to do," the orange toad shrugged. "I just, uh, came to hang out."

"You´re father and son?" Naruto asked, growing more and more confused by the second.

Gamakichi pointed at Shukaku. "By the way, Pops, that big, ugly lug over there was picking on me before!" he told.

Just like one would expect a father being told that his kid was bullied to feel like, Gamabunta narrowed his eyes in anger. "Come again?" he asked, his voice dripping with wrath.

"Oh yeah, and when he did, our friend here came to my rescue! He went head to head and toe to toe with that monster! I´m tellin´ you, Pops, there´s a heck of a lot more to this kid than meets the eye."

"…Is that right?" the Chief Toad glared directly at the sand spirit and grabbed the handle of his blade. "Okay, kid… you´re hereby accepted as my henchman." He drew his sword out of its sheath and held it in front of him. "Sit tight! I´ll show you what duty is all about! I´ll take him down, but not before he´s paid for what he´s done, that worthless little flunky!"

Moving his mighty frog legs, Gamabunta ran at a great speed towards Shukaku, the two occupants on his head barely able to hang on. The sand monster raised its right arm, ready to strike. Once he was close enough, the Chief Toad swung his sword upwards, the blade getting stuck on the thick sand that the right arm was made of. With a lot more strength put into his attack and with a mighty leap, he managed to cut the limb clean off and landed a few kilometers behind the sand spirit. The sword had fallen out of the toad´s hands during the cut and landed a few miles away from its owner, the impact to the ground creating a short earthquake.

As he saw the detached arm turn back into sand, Gamabunta glared dangerously at his opponent. _This guy is no joke, _he thought. _I barely managed to make that cut. Also, if I don´t end this quick, the landscape´s gonna start changing around here._

"Hey, Chief, hold on a second!" Naruto called. "Don´t go over in that direction – Sakura´s still there! Try to lure him over this way if you can, okay?"

"Sakura?" the Chief Toad asked.

"It´s his little girlfriend, Pops." Gamakichi explained. "Right, kid?"

The orange-clad boy ignored the smaller toad´s teasing. "I have to take him out, otherwise Sakura´s as good as dead."

Gamabunta chuckled at that statement, a smirk crossing his lips.

"Interesting…" Gaara said, Shukaku´s mouth moving this time as he turned to face his opponents. "**Interesting! Not bad, Naruto Uzumaki!**"

Temari, terrified beyond compassion, realized what her little brother was up to and decided to run away.

On the sand spirit´s forehead, the sand softened and let Gaara´s head and upper body – his human, non-mutated head and upper body – emerge. "What the… what the heck is that?" Naruto asked, confused.

Gamabunta narrowed his eyes. "A spiritualist medium," he answered.

"To thank you for entertaining me here today…" Gaara said, looking at his opponens with iris-less, pupil-less eyes, "…I´ll show you the true power of the manifestation of the sand!"

"The circles under his eyes… they´re signs of insomnia… evidence that the medium has been possessed by Shukaku," the Chief Toad explained.

"Insomnia?" Naruto asked.

"Those possessed by Shukaku the Sand Spirit are no longer able to sleep soundly through the night; the terror is too great. If one does sleep, Shukaku will eat away at your psyche, until the person that you once were ceases to exist. Since he normally doesn´t get much sleep, the medium´s personality tends to become quite unstable."

"Great…"

"But as long as the spiritual medium is awake, Shukaku´s true power is held in check. The only danger… is if the medium finally falls asleep."

While the Chief Toad had been talking, Gaara had cast a Ninjutsu on himself. "Play Possum Jutsu…!" he said and fell unconscious.

Gamabunta´s eyes widened in shock. "He´s done it!" he gasped.

"I don´t like this at all, Chief Toad," Naruto said, anxiety in his voice. "What´s gonna happen?"

"If he set the Play Possum Jutsu in motion, then Shukaku will be unleashed!"

The monstrous being of sand then let out a triumphant laugh. "**I´m finally free! Here I come, baby!**" it roared in, strangely enough, a very thick southern accent.

"So that´s the… sand spirit?" the orange-clad boy asked, frightened.

"Man, that is one funky demon," Gamakichi commented.

The sand spirit glared at the ones in front of it. "**YEEEEEAAAAAH! Here we go!**" it shouted. "**I hope you´re ready to die! Let´s do this!**"

"I´m gonna jump!" Gamabunta quickly warned.

"**Wind Style: Air Bullets!**" With that roar, Shukaku slammed down hard on its belly and fired a compressed ball of air at its opponents.

Gamabunta jumped into the air in order to avoid the projectile. "Water Style: Liquid Bullets!" he cried and fired a huge ball of water out of his mouth, to which the sand spirit countered with another Air Bullet. The Liquid Bullet collapsed and drenched the bit of forest underneath.

The Chief Toad landed and leapt into the air again. Shukaku fired more Air Bullets and Gamabunta countered with his Liquid Bullets… but the sand spirit fired three, whilst the toad countered with two! The final projectile crashed into its target, creating an explosion in the sky.

"**YAAAAAHOOOOOOO!**" Shukaku cheered. "**I did it! I killed him! I KILLED HIM!**"

The gigantic toad landed down on the ground and leapt towards his opponent. "Now, that kinda hurt!" he said. "That was an awful amount of chakra that you just blasted me with, I have to admit. Hit me with a couple more of those and even I wouldn´t last long!"

"Chief, what should we do?!" Naruto frantically asked.

"Well, for starters, you can wake up the spiritualist medium to release that Jutsu!"

"How am I supposed to do that?!"

"Just fire off a few rounds at him!"

The sand spirit fired another Air Bullet at Gamabunta, who dodged it by spinning over it and retaliated with another Liquid Bullet. Shukaku backed away from the attack, but then the Chief Toad landed right in front of it and grabbed its shoulders. "Now´s your chance!" the amphibian roared, but then Shukaku wrestled free of his grasp.

"You´re gonna have to keep a grip on him if you want me to get a shot at him!" Naruto shouted.

"My body doesn´t have any claws or horns to dig into the enemy with!"

"Gah! Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!"

Gamabunta leapt away from his opponent. "Use the Transformation Jutsu to change into something that has what we need!" he shouted back. "Then again, I am not particularly good at transformations."

"Huh?"

"Don´t worry about it! You shall act upon my will and make a hand-seal!"

"WHAT?!"

"We can make a Combined Transformation! Conjure up something with fangs and claws!"

As Naruto made a hand-seal and thought of what to transform into, Gamabunta ran towards Shukaku at an immense speed. Naruto, given the stressful situation that he was in, was having a lot of trouble thinking of something that had both fangs and claws. But then, at the Chief Toad´s signal, he found out what to transform into purely on instinct.

After the huge cloud of smoke dissolved into nothing, there was now in Gamabunta´s and Naruto´s place a very familiar sight: a huge, red-furred, vicious fox with nine tails!

Gamabunta in the Kyubi´s form ran forward and leapt over another Air Bullet. He was then smacked aside by Shukaku´s tail, but that did not stop him. He tried to swipe at the sand spirit, but it dodged and fired another ball of air, which was also jumped over.

"This isn´t gonna work!" the toad-turned-fox shouted. "His power just keeps increasing!"

"_Come on!_" Naruto groaned from inside of the Chief Toad´s head. "_All he need is a good whack on the head!_"

"Tell me something I _don´t_ know! Here we go!"

Gamabunta used one of his newly-acquired tails to pick up a tree, before running past Shukaku, turning around and leaping into the air. The sand spirit fired another Air Bullet, only for its target to throw the tree into its course. The Chief Toad then closed in on his opponent and bit down hard and dug his claws into its body.

"Okay, kid, you´re on!" Gamabunta yelled and transformed back to normal.

Naruto leapt up into the air and headed straight towards Gaara. "Rise and shine!" he shouted as he delivered a strong punch across the redhead´s face.

"Good! Not much time has passed since the medium went under," Gamabunta stated. "That one blow should have done the trick!"

Shukaku instantly felt that something was wrong. "**Oh, that´s just GREAT!**" it roared sarcastically. "**Gimme a break! I just got here!**" And with that, its consciousness faded.

Gamabunta was then pushed back by Shukaku´s body. "We may have released the Jutsu, but this guy still got some fight left!" he said.

Gaara woke up from his forced slumber, his eyes back to normal, and he spotted Naruto standing on the sand spirit´s face. _He disrupted my Jutsu!_ he thought in rage as the orange-clad boy advanced on him. "SAND COFFIN!" he then shouted, grabbing hold of Naruto´s feet while sending sand to do the rest.

"Help him, Pops!" Gamakichi shouted.

"I´ve got this!" Gamabunta said as he stuck his tongue out and wrapped it around the orange-clad boy, shielding him from the sand.

"You think I´m a fool?!" the redhead screeched.

Naruto noticed that the sand was crawling up on his legs from underneath him. Knowing that there was nothing he could do to protect the boy, Gamabunta reeled in his tongue. _How much strength does this guy have left?!_ he asked in thought. _This isn´t good… Naruto and I have barely any chakra left._

The orange-clad boy and the redhead glared daggers at each other. "I´ll wipe you from the face of the earth!" the latter threatened. "I will not cease to exist!"

Fueled by his desire to protect those dear to him no matter the cost, Naruto, in a desperate move, drew chakra from the nine-tailed fox. As a result, a bright red aura of chakra surrounded him, and it was so powerful that his headband flew off and his jacket was torn open.

"I´m going to protect… EVERYONE!" Naruto declared. "Get ready, you crazy monster!"

The orange-clad boy leapt towards Gaara, intending to give him one final punch to the face, but the redhead ordered his sand to protect him, and it did so by restraining his arms and legs just as he was inches away from his target. Naruto, not giving up so easily, reeled back his head. "I… _**I´ve had it with you!**_" he shouted and delivered a strong headbutt to Gaara´s forehead. The blow was not only powerful enough to draw blood from the redhead, but also managed to make Shukaku´s body crumble into a huge mound of sand!

"A plain ol´ headbutt, huh?" Gamabunta commented as he saw the two boys slowly falling. "Well, he´s not the most elegant fighter I´ve ever seen. With the desperation to get the chakra he needed, worn out as he was, he might be the biggest knucklehead I´ve ever come across. But, I haven´t seen a kid with this much promise in ages. I wish I could stick around to see how this ends, but I´ve reached my limit too. Gamakichi, it´s time we head back."

"Okay, Pops! Let´s do it!" the smaller toad agreed.

As the two amphibians disappeared, the shockwave from their sudden teleportation knocked Gaara and Naruto into opposing treetops with the Chief Toad´s sword in-between them. The two boys glared at each other while panting, the blade´s position making it possible to see both their opponent and their reflections.

"That´s it… I can´t go any further…" Naruto panted. "I´ve used up all my chakra… and from the look of it… so have you… You and I are a lot alike… more than you know… We shouldn´t be doing this…"

The two of them then stood up on the treetops, ready to deal the final blow of their battle. When the gigantic sword disappeared to return to its master, the two boys leapt at each other and used their final ounces of strength to deliver one last punch.

The one to deliver that punch… was Naruto.

All of their strength and chakra gone, the two landed down on the forest floor, exhausted beyond belief.

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><p>dopliss: Okay, this isn´t the final chapter of the story arc… yet! Next chapter will be! I promise!<p>

Mizuki: But when will it come out?

dopliss: I don´t know. The school I´ll be going to is one full of torturing its students with homework. I guess I´ll update when I´ve got the time.


	56. Chapter 56 A great man's funeral

**dopliss: Here I am again, faithful readers! I managed to squeeze in this chapter between my bunches of homework.**

**Mizuki: Let me guess: we´re not gonna get that treatment often, are we?**

**dopliss: …Unlikely so.**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. Now, let´s finish this story arc!**

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><p>Down in the arena, Kakashi, Guy and Genma stared right over at Baki and the false ANBU agent. The three then noticed up on the roof that the barrier was gone and that Orochimaru and his flunkies were getting away. "Kakashi! They´re pulling out!" Guy stated. "We should go after ´em!"<p>

"Wait, Guy," Kakashi said calmly. "I´m not so sure."

"That´s right," the undercover spy of Orochimaru agreed, drawing all attention to him. "Let´s not be too hasty. If we rush in, we might get snared in their traps."

The youthful sensei narrowed his eyes. "What are you suggesting, then?" he asked. "That we just stand here and let the swine escape, after what they´ve done to our village?! That´s _not _the Konoha way!"

"So!" Kakashi started. "You propose that we do nothing, eh… Kabuto?"

The agent removed his mask and, just as Kakashi had suspected, Kabuto´s face was underneath it. "Well, aren´t you the clever one," he praised mockingly. "Time to call it a day."

The teacher of Team 6 and 7 took a few steps forward. "Are you running away from me again?" he asked.

The traitor of Konoha smiled devilishly. "That would be too obvious," he replied. "Why should I show my hand when it´s so much more fun keeping you in the dark? That eye of yours can´t see everything, can it? Unlike the Uchiha clan, you haven´t mastered it. Oh well…" He made a hand-seal, and then he and Baki were gone.

* * *

><p>Back in the forest, the disembodied hand of sand dissolved, letting Sakura´s unconscious body fall. Sasuke, slowly recovering his strength, had enough energy to catch his female teammate in her fall and bring her to the branch that Pakkun was on. He put her down gently, panting hard, and told the pug, "I´ll leave her with you." Then he leapt off of the branch.<p>

Down on the forest floor, Gaara panted hard as he lied on his back, watching as Naruto lay on his stomach. _What could it be… that makes him so strong? _he wondered. _I will not disappear…! I will not cease to exist! I won´t!_

The orange-clad boy, meanwhile, was trying his hardest to move over to the redhead, dragging his own body along the ground with his chin. All while doing so, he compared himself to his opponent. While the two of them have different beliefs and reasons to fight and live, they were the same in how everyone around them treated them as abominations that should be ridden from the world. Then, he remembered what Haku had told him and how he said that he lost the most important thing to him: his purpose.

Gaara noticed Naruto slowly edging closer and slightly panicked. "No! Stay away!" he wheezed.

Naruto stopped and tilted his head up to look directly at the redhead. "It´s almost unbearable, isn´t it?" he asked. "The feeling of being all alone?" His eyes were moist with sympathetic tears. "I know that feeling… I´ve been there… in that dark, lonely place… But now, there are others… other people who mean a lot to me… I care more about them than I do about myself… and I won´t let anyone hurt them!" He narrowed his eyes dangerously. "That´s why I don´t ever give up! I will stop you… even if I have to kill you!"

Gaara´s eyes widened, but more in confusion than in shock. "But… why?" he asked. "Why would you do this for anyone but yourself?"

"Because they saved me from myself! They rescued me from my loneliness. They accept me for who I am. They´re my friends!"

Gaara looked up at the sky and thought of Yashamaru´s words to him. "_Well, love is… a heart´s desire to serve someone who is precious to you… to watch over them… like my sister did for you, Gaara._"

"Love?" the redhead wondered quietly. "Is that the thing that makes him so strong?"

Sasuke landed next to his teammate and kneeled down. "Naruto, that´s enough," he said. "Look, Sakura´s gonna be alright. The sand crumbled away – she is free." He looked over at Gaara. "This guy´s chakra is all used up."

"Ah… that´s a relief…" the orange-clad boy sighed, before he lost consciousness.

Just then, Temari and Kankuro appeared next to their little brother. They both glared at Sasuke, ready to fight him off if he would dare to hurt their sibling. "That´s enough…" Gaara whispered. "It´s over…"

The other two Sand Siblings turned to look at their third family member. "G-Gaara…!" Kankuro gasped, surprised. _I´d never thought I´d see this… He´s had it…_ "Alright, Gaara…" He picked his little brother up and slung his left arm over his shoulders. The three of them turned to give Sasuke one last glance, and then they were off.

Sasuke looked down at Naruto. On his unconscious body, a small smile crossed his lips.

At the three of them leaped through the treetops, Gaara was deep in thought. _Who knows, Naruto Uzumaki? Perhaps even I, someday…_ "…Temari… Kankuro…" he said. "…I´m sorry…"

The other two siblings looked at each other in surprise. This was the very first time that their bloodthirsty little brother had apologized to them. Not knowing what to say otherwise, Kankuro settled with saying, "Uh… don´t mention it."

* * *

><p>The following day was a sad one. Every single person in Konoha had gathered at the foot of the Hokage Stone Faces, where the Third Hokage´s grave was stationed. No one said a word – no banter, no jokes, no idle chitchat, and no nothing. Each of them struggled for not breaking down in tears. All of them stood and mourned in their black garments, and the weather included black clouds and lots of rain.<p>

"Even the heavens weep…" Asuma muttered.

From the members of Team 6, only one of them had showed up. Sairento looked at Takai, who stood next to her, and asked, "Where is Torabu?"

The fiery female looked back at the mute girl, sadness in her eyes. "You don´t know?" she asked back.

"Konran is in the hospital, despite the healing I´ve done to him, and I´ve also healed Torabu´s injuries… but why isn´t he here to pay his respects?"

Takai sighed. "I don´t know…"

One by one, each person who showed up at the funeral placed a white flower at the Hokage´s tombstone. Naruto looked to his left and saw Konohamaru, the poor boy openly crying. And for good reason. Iruka, the responsible and caring teacher that he was, comfortably hugged the grandchild of the Third Hokage.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Kakashi was at the blue memorial stone for those who were killed in action. He simply stared at it, not shedding any tears. He then heard someone behind him walk closer. He turned around and saw the female ANBU agent with long purple hair. She was holding a bouquet of white flowers. "Are those for Hayate?" he asked. As she walked up to the stone, he started to walk away. "Better make it quick. The Hokage´s funeral has already started."<p>

She placed the bouquet down next to the stone and folded her hands in a prayer. "And you, Kakashi?" she asked. "Paying respects to Obito? Instead of constantly inventing new excuses for being late, why don´t you simply come here earlier?"

Kakashi stopped dead in his tracks. "I did. I´ve been here since dawn. This place… makes me think of the mistakes I´ve made in the past… and I´ve made so many of them.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked up at the monument, especially at the face of the Third Hokage. "Iruka-sensei?" he asked. "Why do they do it? Why do people risk their lives for other people?"<p>

Iruka thought long and hard on what to say. "Well…" he began, "when someone passes away, it´s the end. His past and future… all the dreams he once had… may disappear along with him. This is true, even if he died honorably in battle, like so many have… as Hayate did. All the ties that bind him to the living are severed… all but one… the most important of all: people. Parents, siblings, friends, lovers… the people who were important to him… And these people, the ones left behind, are joined together in a great circle by their shared memories of him; a circle that grows larger as time passes."

He looked at his earlier student. "It´s hard to explain it. We remain in the circle together. We have no choice; it´s important to us."

"So we do it because we have to," Naruto summarized. "I get it… sort of. Still… I´m sad he´s gone.

Kakashi, who had arrived a little earlier, walked up to the normally orange-clad boy and patted him on the shoulder. "Think how sad it would be if he died for nothing," he said. "But he left us something priceless. Don´t worry, you´ll understand, one of these days."

Naruto gave a small smile. "Hey… give me _some_ credit. _That much_ I get."

The rain then stopped and the sun´s might rays shined through the clouds. The inhabitants and ninjas of Konoha then headed home, many of them still very sad, but all of them knew one very important thing.

While the now might be sad and depressing, they will do their best to make a happier future.

* * *

><p>Takai returned back to Torabu´s apartment. In the living room, she found him sitting cross-legged on the floor, holding his head up with both of his hands. "Why weren´t you at the funeral?" she asked.<p>

"I don´t feel welcome," he replied. "Everyone probably hates me by now. After all, I´m the reason Lord Hokage died."

The fiery female just stood there, staring down at her roommate.

"I was a huge burden to him. If I didn´t get deceived by Orochimaru, then he wouldn´t have given his life to save mine."

She sighed and walked over to him. "Torabu…" When he looked up at her, she bonked him hard on the head.

Rubbing his sore skull, he glared directly at her. "What the hell was that for?!" he hissed.

She stared the cat-boy right in the eyes. "You´re not the one to blame for the Hokage´s death… Orochimaru is," she said firmly. "The Hokage loved everyone in this village – adult or child – and he would gladly have sacrificed his life for any one of them. To be a leader means that you have to take huge responsibilities over your subordinates and protect them, no matter the cost." She smiled gently. "Think about this for a second. If you were in his shoes, and he was about to get killed… wouldn´t you throw away your life just so that he could go on living?"

He looked down at the floor. "I… I would."

"Don´t go blame yourself over his death. It was _his _choice to save you at the cost of his life. And the one you need to blame for his death is…"

"…Orochimaru…" the troublemaking ninja finished.

"Right." She offered her right hand to him. "Now, how about we go to his grave so you can give your final 'goodbye' to him?"

He looked up at her again and smiled. He took her hand, stood up, and walked along with her towards the foot of the Hokage Stone Faces. He looked up at the sky and imagined the Hokage smiling down at him. _I swear, Lord Hokage… I will keep your memory and protect this village and its inhabitants with my life._

* * *

><p>At the outskirts of Konoha, two mysterious men stared down at the village. Both were dressed in black cloaks with red clouds on them, and they also wore straw hats that covered their faces. The taller one of the two had a large object strapped to his back.<p>

"Well, it survived… but barely," the taller one said in a deep voice. "The damage is extensive."

"Not long ago, it was at the height of its glory," the other stated. "Look at it now…"

The taller one looked at his friend. "You sound almost sad. Don´t tell me you still have feelings for your old home."

The shorter one seemed to hesitate, but then gave his answer. "No… none." He then lifted his head a little, revealing his eyes.

His Sharingan Eyes…

* * *

><p>dopliss: And so, we have ended this story arc. Next up is the Tsunade arc, and after that, I will start uploading my third story!<p>

Mizuki: So look out for that one, folks!


	57. Chapter 57 The two rogues

**dopliss: Do not fear, ladies and gentlemen, ´cause I´m back in action! If school hasn´t been a bitch to me, then I would have updated last week.**

**Mizuki: Are you sure **_**that´s**_** the reason you didn´t update and not because you´re lazy?**

**dopliss: …I´m not the one who decides on that…**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. Into the third story arc, we go!**

* * *

><p>It was a light misty morning outside of Konoha´s gates. The lone guard who stood there was left with limited vision as he scouted what little of the area ahead of him. But then, slowly and steadily growing louder for each second, he heard the sound of feet against the ground. From what he could deduce from the sound and rhythm of the footsteps, there were at least two people. And after some patient waiting, the two finally appeared clearly to him.<p>

The two were the same black-cloaked men with straw hats. Without a word, the two of them walked up to the guarded gate and prepared to head inside. That was when the guard intervened. "Um, excuse me…" he said.

The two men stopped walking, and the shorter of them turned his head to glance at the guard. Suddenly, made possible by an unspoken Jutsu, the guard slowly lost consciousness and slumped against the wall. With their minor hindrance now fast asleep, the two cloaked men resumed walking.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, inside of the hidden leaf village, Sasuke was staring intently at something that had plagued him a long time ago in the Chunin Exams. He glared with narrowed eyes at the image of himself as a young boy who was crying over the death of his clan.<p>

"_Father and mother shouldn´t have died…! It didn´t have to happen…!_" the image said lowly. "_If only I´ve been s-strong enough… all of them would still be alive…! My clan is destroyed!_"

Sasuke responded to the image by throwing a kunai at it, causing it to disappear and let the real world fill his vision. "That´s enough," he swore.

* * *

><p>At another location in the village, our favorite orange-clad hero sat down on his recent training ground, surrounded by practice dummies impaled with kunai and panting out of exhaustion. "That´s enough for now," he decided, standing up. With his high amount of chakra, he had plenty of strength to set off in a run, heading for the rest of the village. "Once I´ve had a little breakfast, I´m gonna get right back to the grindstone!"<p>

Along his way to his favorite ramen restaurant, he passed the Third Hokage´s burial site, where he saw Konohamaru looking up at the monument. He stopped running and walked up behind the young tyke, mentally pitying him, but decided to show a cheerful face. With a smile, he greeted, "Hey, Konohamaru! What´s up?"

The Third Hokage´s grandson turned to face the elder boy, his eyes wet from tears. He wiped them dry with his right arm and put on a smile. "Uh, not much, Naruto," he replied.

"I guess classes have started up again at school, huh?"

"Nah, not yet," the youngster shrugged. "A bunch of the school buildings got pretty messed up, so all the students are helping repair them." He then changed the subject. "What about you, Naruto? You´re still training, right?"

"Yeah, sort of," Naruto laughed sheepishly. After a few seconds of silence, he then asked, "So, what´s up with you?"

"Nothing," Konohamaru replied, looking away. "What´s up with _you_?"

"Um… also nothing."

After a little bit of awkward silence, the two of them decided to break the ice. "So, um…" both said at the same time, but then left the sentence unfinished.

Naruto shook his head and gave a cheerful grin. "Hey, c´mon already – what´s the matter?" he asked again.

The youngling looked back at his friend-slash-idol-slash-rival with a frown. "Nothing´s the matter," he said again. "What´s wrong with _you_?"

"Um… never mind."

After silence reigned between the two boys for the third time, Konohamaru finally spoke. "I don´t feel lonely or nothing," he admitted. "Lonely? There´s time for stuff like that, but not now." Naruto´s facial expression turned into one of surprise at the younger boy´s responsible tone. "Everybody´s working really hard to rebuild the village… right now, I just wanna do whatever I can to help out!" He gave a sincere smile. "So you´ll have to do enough training for both of us, okay, Naruto? ´Cause if you slack off, I´ll make it to Hokage before you!"

Naruto laughed and playfully ruffled the younger boy´s hair. "Ha! You puny runt! The next Hokage is standing in front of you! Besides, you´ve still gotta make it through school first, don´tcha?" After sharing a laugh together, the eldest of the two remembered something and put his left hand in his pocket in search of something. "Ah, there it is!" he said, pulling out a small slip of paper and giving it to the youngling.

"A free meal at Ichiraku?" Konohamaru asked, looking closely at the coupon. "I can really have it?"

"Yeah, don´t worry about it! I´ve got another one, anyway," Naruto replied, casually placing his hands on the back of his head. "That little coupon is all yours!"

"Oh, wow! Thank you, Naruto!"

Upon seeing his two friends and 'teammates', Moegi and Udon, the grandson of the Third Hokage politely bade farewell and was off to help repair the school. Naruto was left with his primary objective before he got sidetracked. "Right!" he said. "Once I´ve had my ramen from Ichiraku, I´ll be ready for another round of training!" And with that, he was off.

* * *

><p>Out in a desert far away from Konoha, a bunch of sand jonins were gathered at a small pit. The one who had gathered the rest pointed down in the hole and said in a depressed voice, "Look at this."<p>

The others peeked down the hole and were shocked at the sight. Down in the hole were the three bodies of the real Kazekage and his bodyguards, all without their faces! As he saw his allies´ faces contorting into anger, the one who summoned them stated, "They´ve been dead for a while – my guess: since before the Chunin Exam."

Baki, who were among the jonin, realized the truth while keeping an enraged expression. "I see now… So _that´s _what his game was…!" he growled. "Curse you… Orochimaru!" He then explained to the others, "After the Kazekage was killed, Orochimaru – or Kabuto, maybe – assumed his identity. We were careless…"

* * *

><p>At an unknown location, Orochimaru sat on a big chair, wheezing in pain as he looked down at his boneless, bandaged arms. In front of him stood Kabuto, who looked down at his master with a sardonic grin. "You didn´t think it would be easy, did you?" he asked in a slightly mocking voice. "Look who you were playing with – one of the most renowned ninjas in all the five great ninja nations. You did very well, though. Two of the five are now out of the way—"<p>

"Shut your mouth!" the handicapped villain hissed, his voice dripping with wrath. "I won´t be patronized! Do you understand me?! I´ll kill you!"

Gulping, Kabuto gave a serious, apologetic frown. "Forgive me. I didn´t wish to…" he trailed off. "I´ll grant you, we didn´t bring down the village, but let us not forget our other objective." He smiled sadistically. "Sasuke… You´ve done it; your leash is around his neck."

Orochimaru chuckled sarcastically. "And all it cost me were my arms and the entirety of my Jutsu…" he mused. "If I had only gotten a hold of Itachi Uchiha from the beginning… we wouldn´t be in this mess. But it´s too late now; Itachi is stronger than I am. That is why… I pulled myself out of that organization."

"Anyway, sir… aren´t we gonna do something about Torabu and Konran?" Kabuto asked.

Breathing a heavy sigh, the snake-man looked up at his servant. "Send a message to Taidana Yaju," he ordered. "Tell him… he left his job unfinished."

* * *

><p>Back in Konoha, the Toad Sage himself was on another round of his so-called 'research'. From the top of one of the higher buildings, he looked from afar at the women in the hot springs through a telescope – a perfectly safe way of peeping for the perviest of perverts. Though the steam from the springs obscured his view, he did not care in the slightest.<p>

"Ooh, yes, that´s it, that´s it!" he muttered aloud, drooling slightly. "Oh, baby, I´m telling ya – you´ve gotta love the leaf village! The girls here are off the charts!"

"You´re still playing the buffoon, I see."

Jiraiya froze upon hearing the voice, but he relaxed once he recognized it. "Ha-ha, uh… just doing a little research," he defended as he turned around to face and old man and woman, both of whom were one of the village´s council. "So, Old Man Homura and Koharu-sensei… what could you two scholarly advisers want with me?"

"Don´t waste our time," the old man, Homura, said strictly. "You know perfectly well what this is all about."

The old pervert crossed his arms and stared intently at the councilman´s and councilwoman´s humorless frowns. After a few seconds, he cracked a small grin. "C´mon, why the long faces, you guys?" he asked playfully. "From what I hear, talks with the sand village went off without a hedge."

Homura cleared his throat. "The sand village has stated publicly that Orochimaru was responsible for all of this," he stated. "At any rate, they´ve offered their complete surrender to Konoha, so at the moment, their betrayal is a moot point."

"For now, we have no choice but to accept their surrender in order to sure up our power in the region," Koharu followed up.

"That´s correct. However, the strength of the leaf village has just suffered an enormous blow. As things now stand, our top priority is preparing for the onslaught we believe will come."

"We have no way of knowing when one the surrounding nations might try to make a play. Therefore, until the village has regained its strength, we´ve decided to gather the top ninja from each team and assemble an emergency executive committee to handle the situation. But first… we need a strong and trustworthy leader."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow in interest.

"It is more than just Orochimaru; it is the seed of a far greater struggle."

The Toad Sage rubbed the back of his neck and tiredly closed his eyes. "Look, guys, I don´t know why you´re going through the trouble of explaining all this to me," he said, turning away and holding up his telescope again. "But if you´ll excuse me, I´ve gotta get back to work."

"I think you´ll be interested in what our plans are," the old councilman said. "This village needs the Fifth Hokage immediately."

"And yesterday, at an emergency meeting with the Lord of the Land of Fire, it was decided," the councilwoman continued. "We chose you, Jiraiya."

The old pervert took the news well. "Oh, I don´t know…. it´s not really up my alley," he said passively.

"It has been decided," Homura said sternly. "Besides, if one of the renowned sannin is not suited, then who else is?"

Jiraiya faced the other elders again and held out his left hand. "If you´re so set on a sannin, there is another," he suggested, smiling impishly. "You´re forgetting Tsunade."

The two members of the council looked at each other before looking back at the sannin. "There´s little doubt that the child has the capability," Homura said, "but it hardly matters; no one even knows where she is."

The Toad Sage shrugged. "I´m sure I can dig her up. You don´t have a problem with that, do you?" He turned away from them again. "Tsunade´s got the brains for it – more than a loafer like me does. What do you say?"

The councilman sighed. "Very well, then. We´ll give it some thought," he said. "But we´ll send along three members of the ANBU black ops to accompany you on your search."

The old pervert smirked. "You don´t have to worry, I´m not going to make a run for it," he assured. "Besides, your men will just get in the way. Although… there is one guy I don´t mind having along on the ride. I´ve stumbled across a very interesting little egg."

* * *

><p>Down at Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto was in big trouble. The orange-clad boy was rummaging through his pockets in search of a coupon. "This is so weird…" he muttered.<p>

"Sorry, kid – no coupon, no ramen; those are the rules," the owner said apologetically.

"N-N-N-N-No, wait a minute! I just had one, I swear!"

As Naruto rummaged through his clothing in panic, Torabu and Takai, who ate their own bowls, watched the spectacle with amused eyes. "You think we should help him?" the latter of the two asked.

The cat-boy chuckled and looked down at his bowl. "Let him check every possibility first," he replied before he started slurping up his meal.

* * *

><p>Outside of a teashop, Kakashi was leaning up against a wall while reading one of his 'Make-Out Paradise' novels, waiting patiently for Sasuke to arrive, having signaled the Uchiha boy to come by use of a bird. He turned his head to the right and saw Asuma and Kurenai walking side by side. "Hey, guys," he calmly greeted, closing his book. "You two seem to be getting along."<p>

"Idiot…" Kurenai muttered, blushing faintly. "Anko just asked me to pick up some dumplings for her."

"What´re you doing here – aside from catching up on your reading?" Asuma asked.

"Ah, I´m here to buy something to put on a grave," the masked jonin said leisurely. "Plus, I´m meeting someone here." His visible eye focused on the two black-cloaked men inside of the shop. The other two teachers saw them as well, but they all pretended not to notice. "I´m just waiting for Sasuke."

The shorter of the two mysterious men froze upon hearing that name. "It´s unlike you to be waiting for something," Asuma mused. "Is that item for Obito?"

"Yeah… kind of."

As they secretly watched the mysterious men, Sasuke arrived. "Kakashi… it´s not like you to show up early," he stated. "What gives?"

"Well… _sometimes _I do," Kakashi replied.

Sasuke, curious, looked inside the teashop, but the two men were gone (not that he would notice). "Let´s eat somewhere else; I don´t have much of a sweet tooth," he suggested.

The two other jonin gave a quick nod to Kakashi, and then they were off.

* * *

><p>The two mysterious men were found walking along a lakeside. The teachers of Team 8 and 10 appeared in front of the two, intercepting them and forcing them to stop walking. "You guys aren´t from around here, are you?" Asuma asked ironically, eyes narrowed dangerously. "What´re you doing in this village?" <em>That<em> question was serious.

"It´s been a long time, Asuma… Kurenai…" the shorter man greeted.

"The fact that you know our names must mean you´re a ninja formerly of this village."

The shorter man took off his hat and revealed his identity, which was a shock to the two jonin. The first thing that was interesting about his features was that he looked frighteningly similar to Sasuke. His eyes had an onyx color and were cold and stern. His black hair had bangs that framed his face and a low ponytail that was hidden in his cloak. Around his forehead was wrapped a Konoha ninja headband, but it was sliced across its metal plate. And finally, he had small lines underneath his eyes, wore a red ring on his right ring finger, and dark-purple nail polish. For some reason, he pulled his left arm out of its sleeve, opened the upper buttons in the cloak until it reached mid-chest level, and then let his am rest there.

Asuma gave a sardonic smile. "Well, what do you know…" he said. "Itachi Uchiha."

"Are these friends of yours, Itachi?" the taller man asked, amused. "Well then, I suppose I should introduce myself."

He took off his hat and revealed features far from human. His skin was of a pale blue-gray color, his small eyes were round and white, there were strange marking under his eyes that took the form of gills, and his teeth were triangular in shape and looked very sharp. To add further emphasis on his shark-like theme, his dull blue hair was styled in the shape of a shark fin. He, too, wore dark-purple nail polish and a ring, though this one was worn on his left ring finger and yellow in color. His ninja headband was also sliced across the metal plate, but this one was styled so that it also covered his ears and the symbol on it was the mist village´s symbol.

"Hope we can get acquainted later," he said, showing off his teeth. "The name´s Kisame Hoshigaki."

"Why should we wait for later when I can just wipe the floor with you now?" Asuma asked threateningly.

"Boy, Itachi… it looks like they hate you as much in this village as they do in mine," the shark-man mused.

"We know who you are, Kisame," Kurenai stated humorlessly. "We´ve heard all about you. You hail from the hidden mist village. Suspected of espionage and the murder of a feudal lord, you´re a rogue ninja from the Land of Water, wanted in every nation."

"You´re a high-level S-rank criminal listed prominently in the bingo-book," Asuma continued, before steering his attention on the other Uchiha. "Itachi… I´ve gotta hand it to you, the fact that you´d even show your face in this village after what you did, it takes some guts."

Itachi´s facial expression seemed to be locked in a state of boredom. "I´m warning you two," he said coldly. "You don´t want to interfere with me. It isn´t my desire to kill you."

"You know, that´s pretty hilarious, coming from a killer," Asuma retorted. "Now come on, out with it! I know you didn´t come skulking in here dressed like that for no good reason. What are you after?"

Kisame reached behind his right shoulder and grabbed a shaft with his right hand. He then swung the object that was tied to his back downwards and into the pavement, the gigantic wrapped-up sword creating a hole upon impact. "This guy is getting on my nerves…" he growled. "Can I kill him?"

"Well, I guess we´re not going anywhere without a fight," Itachi shrugged. "Just try not to overdo it – your moves tend to stand out."

The shark-man smiled dangerously as he lifted his big sword with one arm and laid it on his shoulder. "They´re as good as dead!" he said.

There went a bit of silence between the four of them, but then Itachi threw his hat. And the moment it hit the ground, the fight was on. Kisame made the first move by swinging his gigantic blade at Asuma, who jumped backwards to dodge it. In a normal situation like this, one would have wasted a bit of time lifting a sword on that size, but the shark-man was surprisingly maneuverable with his weapon. He quickly lifted it over his head and made another strike, but this time the teacher of Team 10 used his odd brass knuckles to block the deadly blow.

Meanwhile, Kurenai made hand-seals and crafted eye contact with her two opponents. _A Genjutsu… _Itachi realized as he saw her body disappear like a mirage.

Despite how much he pushed against the blade, Asuma still had problems in terms of overpowering. _He´s pushing down with just the edge of his sword… _the jonin thought. _His strength is unreal!_

Pushing a bit more, Kisame managed to make physical contact between his sword and his opponent´s left shoulder. Smiling wider, he said, "Let me introduce you to my great blade, Samehada the Shark Skin!" Just as he pulled his blade back, the frontmost part of the bandages broke, revealing that the sword´s real form was just as abnormal as its owner. Instead of smooth steel, the blade was made of hundreds of thousands of big dark-purple spikes! The spikes cut a deep gash in Asuma´s shoulder, causing him to give a scream of pain and clutch his wound. "It doesn´t slice; it cuts you to ribbons!"

Recovering from his injury, the smoking jonin cracked a smirk. "It´s about time… Kurenai," he said.

Just then, the Genjutsu that Itachi had predicted began to affect the two rogues. The ground under Kisame´s feet turned into quicksand and restrained his legs, while a tree suddenly grew from behind the other Uchiha and its branches wrapped around him. He looked up, his face completely calm, and saw Kurenai seep out of the trunk, a kunai in hand. "Alright… let´s end this!" she said and thrust her weapon towards her captured opponent.

She suddenly found herself bound by the tree, with Itachi standing in front of her. "Genjutsu at that level doesn´t work on me," he stated.

_He used a Genjutsu Reflection?! _Kurenai gasped in thought.

Once she saw him take out a kunai from his sleeve, she bit a hole in her lip, instantly breaking the illusion. She saw the real Itachi running towards her, and she managed to duck at the exact moment he swung at her. He then followed up with a kick, which she blocked with both of her arms, but the force of the kick managed to push her off her feet and towards the lake. Had it not been for her mastery of chakra control, she would have fallen through the water´s surface instead of landing on it.

"Kurenai!" Asuma shouted in worry.

"I wouldn´t be looking over there, if I was you," Kisame taunted.

Before the teacher of Team 8 could manage to stand, she heard Itachi´s voice from behind her saying, "You live up to you reputation… however…"

"…However, this is the end of the line – for you, anyway."

Itachi turned around from his position behind Kurenai and saw Kakashi. Meanwhile, after dodging several strikes from his opponent, Asuma attempted a strike on his own. Though the blade did not connect, a cut still appeared on Kisame´s right cheek. He looked at the brass knuckles and saw that the teacher of Team 10 had used his chakra to 'extend' his blades. The shark-man then planted his sword in the ground and made hand-seals. Just then, Kakashi appeared right in front of his male ally and copied the rogue´s hand-seals.

"Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Jutsu!" both cried, and then two huge bursts of water arose from the lake, took the form of sharks, and crashed into each other!

"Not that I´m unhappy to see you, but what´re you doing here?" Asuma asked his masked friend.

Kakashi shrugged. "Well, you know," he started, "I asked you to take care of those two earlier…"

"…but I guess I got a little worried," the Kakashi on the lake finished.

Itachi stared intently at the Kakashi-clone, who had his Sharingan Eye was revealed. "Kakashi… it´s you…" he said.

* * *

><p>Back at Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto was finally eating a bowl of ramen. "False alarm, huh?" the owner asked with a smile, holding a coupon in his hands.<p>

"Yeah," the orange-clad boy agreed. "What happened there was that I stuck it behind my headband, because I was afraid it might fall out of my pocket during training earlier this morning."

Torabu smiled at Takai. "See? I told you everything will be alright," he stated.

The fiery female giggled. "So you did," she agreed.

Just then, the owner noticed someone enter his stand. "Hey there! C´mon in!" he greeted.

The one who entered was none other than Jiraiya, who smiled widely when he saw Naruto stuff his mouth full of noodles. "I had to see it with my own eyes," he chuckled, causing the orange-clad boy to turn to look at him. "It looks like you _do _eat nothing but ramen, huh, short stuff?"

Naruto nearly choked on his ramen.

* * *

><p>dopliss: And there you have it, fangirls! Itachi Uchiha has made his grand appearance! I bet all of you are squee-ing at this.<p>

Mizuki: …I´m not sure they all are squee-ing at a bunch of text.

dopliss: (shrugging) At least _some _must be squee-ing.


	58. Chapter 58 Tsukuyomi

**dopliss: And so, we continue.**

**(Awkward silence)**

**Mizuki: You´ve… run out of things to say, haven´t you?**

**dopliss: (sweat-drops) …Yeah…**

**Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto. …At least I could say **_**that**_**.**

* * *

><p>"What're <em>you <em>doing here?!" Naruto shouted, unpleased by the appearance of Jiraiya.

The old pervert gave a look of disappointment. "How cold… Is that any way to treat someone who's trained you for the Chunin Exams?" he asked, offended.

"_Trained_?! All you did was perving on girls while I practiced how to summon ungrateful frogs!"

"Exactly," the Toad Sage nodded, crossing his arms. "You should be thankful for me teaching you how to summon ungrateful frogs."

While Naruto seethed in rage, Torabu and Takai were looking at the two arguing guys, amused. "So _that's _the guy who´s trained Naruto…" the former muttered. "I've gotta admit, I expected… someone of better quality."

"I've heard about that guy," the fiery female whispered. "He's one of the legendary sannin and an incredibly powerful ninja… but I didn't know _this_ side of him."

"Look, I came here to give you a proposition, kid," Jiraiya said seriously. "I want you to come with me on a little trip outside of this village – and before you ask: no, you can't refuse to come along. The purpose of this is… well…" He gave a cheeky grin. "…you can properly guess."

"What?! No way!" the orange-clad boy refused. "How come I get stuck tagging along with you while you do 'research' for another one of your pervy books?!"

The Toad Sage's smirk grew wider. "Look, kid, this isn't just another research trip." He held up a finger. "There's a woman I have to find – a very remarkable woman."

Naruto turned away from the old pervert. "Well, count me out, old man!" he said. "I don't have time to help you find a girlfriend! I've gotta get busy with my training!"

Jiraiya gave the boy a look of honest interest. "What training?" he asked.

The orange-clad boy folded his arms behind his head. "It's time Kakashi-sensei taught me something new, like that… Chidori thing." In his thoughts, he was jealous. _Why does he always play favorites with Sasuke?_

"I see…" The Toad Sage then got an idea. "You'd just be wasting your time. Chidori is not really your style." He smirked again. "And besides that, kid… the woman we're looking for is really beautiful. I mean gorgeous!"

"Like I care." Naruto glared at the old man. "Look, Pervy Sage, who do you think you're talking to? I'm not some dumb kid you can fool with lame excuses. I'm not going!"

Jiraiya pouted and turned to leave the ramen shop. "Okay, fine, suit yourself," he shrugged. "And I could've taught you Jutsus that'd make Chidori look like child's play." That sentence caught the orange-clad boy's attention. "Maybe I'll just… see if Sasuke wants to go."

Naruto's mood instantly became positive as he jumped in front of the old pervert. "Right! When do we leave?!" he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he immediately ran off. "I'll go pack my bag!" he called. "Stay right there, Pervy Sage! I'll be right back! Don´t move!"

The Toad Sage gave a sigh and then a chuckle. "What a knucklehead…" he mused. "Still, ya can't help liking him."

Torabu was curious now. "What is so remarkable about this woman you seek?" he asked.

The lecherous old man turned to look at the cat-boy. "Well, if you must know, I've been tasked to find her so she can become the next Hokage," he told.

The troublemaking ninja's eyes widened and he bolted upright. "What?!" he gasped. "If that's the case, then I wanna go, too!"

Jiraiya shook his head. "No. Sorry, boy, but one little kid hanging on my back's enough." He then gave a cheeky grin. "But if your female friend over there wants to come along… well, that's a whole different story."

Torabu growled. "Oh, so _that's _how it is, huh?"

And then, with a few hand-seals, he used the Sexy-Jutsu. At the sight of the buck-naked, lightly-furred, curvaceous and well-endowed teenage girl, Jiraiya's eyes nearly popped out of his head, his nose became a miniature and red version of Niagara Falls, and he fainted in shock. Once he recovered, he stared hungrily at the cat-girl in front of him, his eyes glinting and his big, smiling mouth drooling. "It looks like… you have the same fortunate talent as Naruto…!" he stated.

Torabu added act to the illusion by moving her tail in front of her crotch, slightly covering her bosom with her right arm, placing her left index finger on her lower lip, and looking at the old man with big, adorable, droopy eyes. "Why can't you take me along, good sir?" she asked, a faint blush on her cheeks and crocodile tears in her eyes. "Are you not allowed to bring kittens to where you're going?"

Eyebrows furrowed in irritation, Takai smacked the troublemaking ninja on his head, causing him to turn back to normal. "Pervert…!" she muttered.

After having rubbed the sore spot on his head, the cat-boy's expression became serious. "Actually, I have a reason for wanting to go with you," he said, looking down at the floor, fists clenched. "You see… I feel responsible over the Third Hokage's death, so… so I want to see if this woman is worthy the position."

The Toad Sage rubbed his chin in thought. "Please, Lord Jiraiya," Takai said pleadingly, looking innocent. "The poor kid only wants to see his village being granted a leader as great as its last one."

The old pervert gave a sigh and crossed his arms. "I suppose you can come along," he finally said, smiling at the sight of the two's faces lighting up. "Go home and pack your stuff, then meet me back here, kid."

"I'm going, too," the fiery female decided.

Jiraiya shrugged. "As I said before, you're welcome."

* * *

><p>The tension in the air was incredibly tense. Kakashi and Itachi glared daggers at each other, while the clone on the lakeside looked dangerously at Kisame. <em>Those eyes haven't changed… <em>the masked sensei thought. _This one's a true heir of the Sharingan. That means I've gotta prepare for the worst._

"Well, well… what a surprise," the shark-man smiled. "_That's _how you copied my Jutsu. So there really _is _someone besides Itachi with those crazy eyes. You're Kakashi, aren't you? The copy ninja?"

"You can imagine my surprise," the Kakashi-clone replied. "I go to check out a couple of lowlife vagabonds in the tea shop, and I find none other than Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, the scourge of the hidden mist village."

"How about that… You know my name. I'm honored."

The clone looked at the huge weapon that Kisame possessed. "I assume that bizarre excuse for a sword is one of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist's? The one called 'Samehada the Shark Skin'?"

The shark-man gave a short laugh and grasped the hilt of the sword. "I heard that you and Zabuza had an outing a while back."

"Yes, we did."

Upon seeing that the clone was reaching behind its back for a kunai, Kisame raised Samehada up. "Go ahead," he goaded. "I'd _love _to cut you to ribbons."

"Kisame. Stop it," Itachi ordered in a calm but stern voice. "If you take this man on, it won't be without cost. Furthermore, it will take time, and the commotion is likely to bring more ninjas running. Your way is inefficient and unnecessarily risky. Don't lose sight of our goal."

"Let's hear it. What is your goal, exactly?" the Kakashi-clone asked before disappearing.

The older Uchiha turned his head to look at the real masked sensei. "We're looking for something, and we know it's here," he answered.

"And what would that be?" After ten seconds of silence, Kakashi raised a kunai dangerously and repeated his question. "What is it that you're looking for?"

Itachi was completely unfazed by the threatening tone in the masked jonin's voice, his face showing no visible signs of worry and his eyes sharply locked on to him. "My way is more… efficient than Kisame's," he finally said.

His reflexes catlike, Kakashi spotted the rogue's right hand that now held several shuriken and leapt backwards, making hand-seals. "Water Style: Water Wall!" he announced.

Instead of throwing the sharp throwing stars, however, Itachi somehow made four tendrils of water attack his opponent. But just before the attack could connect, a big sprout of water surrounded the masked jonin and blocked the attack. When the attack ended, the wall collapsed, revealing Kakashi, who glared intently at his opponent.

_The speed of his Jutsu is incredible! _Kakashi thought. _I didn't even see a hand-seal! Those shuriken in his hand were just a ruse to distract me from his water-style attack._

"You're good," the older Uchiha complimented. "You almost anticipated my moves."

"…Almost…"

Appearing out of nowhere, a Shadow Clone of Itachi showed up behind his opponent and stabbed him in the back with a kunai. But then, much to Kisame's surprise, Kakashi dissolved into water. _A Water Clone?_ the shark-man thought, a giant smirk on his face. _I guess my village should be honored that he's copied our Jutsus so well._

Kurenai then spotted Kakashi swimming silently underneath the surface, kunai in hand, towards her. She smirked and took the knife out of her colleague's hand. "Nice job, Kakashi!" she praised.

But then, much to her surprise, the masked jonin emerged from the water, grabbed her, and leapt away from Itachi. "Get back, Kurenai!" he shouted. "_That _one's the Shadow Clone!"

A huge amount of water was shot up into the sky when the Itachi closest to the two jonin suddenly exploded! Worried about his comrades, Asuma leapt through the giant splash. The water then came down as a miniature rainstorm and drenched the five of them. Kakashi, a bit worn out, turned back to face the older Uchiha. "Stay on your toes," he advised. "This guy was made chief of ANBU black ops when he was only thirteen."

"Alright, he's tough – we get it," Asuma stated, readying himself for combat.

"'Tough'? You haven't seen _half _of what he can do."

Itachi continued to glare sternly at the masked jonin, his face frozen like a statue. "For someone who is not of the Uchiha clan, you've mastered the Sharingan well," he praised. "However, not being one of us, you lack our physical strength – and that's something you can't copy."

_He's right… my body doesn't have enough stamina… _Kakashi mentally cursed.

The rogue closed his eyes. "Why is it that the Uchiha clan is known by all… and feared by all?" he questioned. "I'll show you what a Sharingan can do when it's wielded by a true heir of the bloodline…!"

Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw Itachi slowly open his eyes, revealing his Sharingan. "Close your eyes! Don't look in his eyes!" he warned his comrades, who both quickly did as they were told, the masked jonin himself only closing his right eye. "Listen, both of you! Whatever happens, _don't_ look! If you meet his gaze, you're finished! I'm gonna have to do this alone – my Sharingan against his!"

"Indeed, your abilities are impressive," the older Uchiha commented. "They might even be enough to resist the Mangekyo Sharingan. However… there is something they _can't _defend against: this special Sharingan Jutsu called 'Tsukuyomi'. Only someone with a Sharingan and a Kekkei Genkai can defeat me."

Kakashi struggled to keep up the fight, but he was the weaker of the two, and so he was caught in the Jutsu.

* * *

><p><em>Kakashi's whole world spun out of control. The skies disappeared, everything turned red, black and white, and he found his arms and legs restrained by a big iron plate with chains, locking him in a crucifix position. In front of his was Itachi, a sword in his hand. "I wonder how much of this someone without a Kekkei Genkai can handle," he said and stabbed the restrained jonin right in the midsection. The masked ninja felt incredible pain before passing out.<em>

_When he awoke, he looked down and saw that there was no stab wound. What he did see, however, was two Itachis, each holding a blade, much to his chagrin. _So it's only a Genjutsu…_ he realized._

_As the two illusions stabbed their opponent, they each took turns at speaking. "In the Tsukuyomi…" one began._

"…_time and space…" the other continued._

"…_even physical mass…"_

"…_I control them all."_

_Before Kakashi blacked out again, he was told, "The next 72 hours will be nothing but this, over and over."_

_When he opened his eyes again, this time he could not only see three Itachis, but also his previous body, which was still being stabbed by two other illusions… just like he was being stabbed again now. _Keep calm…! It's just a Genjutsu… _he told himself._

"_Telling yourself it's an illusion will do you little good," Itachi stated as he stabbed through Kakashi's left thigh. "Pain is pain – call it what you will. Do you feel it any less deeply by thinking it's not real? How long will it be, I wonder, before your spirit is broken?"_

_What felt like an eternity passed as Kakashi was continually stabbed. Each time his body gave in to the pain, he would wake up someplace else, only to get stabbed again. As of now, he was currently surrounded by thousands upon thousands of his own body, pierced and not, each chained to a big iron plate. Then, appearing out of nowhere, hundreds of thousands of Itachis appeared. "Only 71 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds to go," one of them informed as they all raised their swords._

_Kakashi's eyes grew wide in shock upon hearing this, his body shivering all over with fear. _What?! No…! Only a single second has passed?!

_And then, before he knew any better, thousands of blades mercilessly pierced through his flesh._

* * *

><p>Kakashi's vision of the real world returned. He panted hard, his mind having difficult in recovering from the brutal attack it had suffered. Exhausted, he collapsed onto his hands and knees. Hearing this, Kurenai asked, "Kakashi! What is it?! Do we open our eyes now?!"<p>

"No… not yet…" the masked jonin breathed.

"What just happened?!" Asuma asked in worry. "One second, the guy's talking, and the next, you hit the ground!"

Kakashi got up in a kneeling position and looked back at Itachi. _Three days in that world… Less than a moment passed in this one… _he thought. _Why not just kill me? If he wanted to, he could._

"Hmm… after all that, the fool's spirit is still intact," Kisame mused as he walked up beside his fellow rogue. "Meanwhile, you've risked overusing those eyes of yours. You know that's dangerous."

Kakashi could see that what the shark-man said was true, for the older Uchiha's eyes were twitching. "This… thing you've come for… is it Sasuke?" he asked.

"No…" Itachi answered simply. "It's the legacy of the Fourth Hokage."

While Kurenai and Asuma was ignorant of what he meant, Kakashi knew. _Naruto…_

* * *

><p><em>A few days earlier, Kakashi and Jiraiya were on a rooftop, looking over the village. "It's been a long time, Jiraiya," the former said. "How many years since you've even seen the village?"<em>

_Jiraiya, at first, seemed awfully silent, but then he spoke. "Kakashi… I'll train Naruto from now on." He looked directly at his friend's masked face. "The Third Hokage was wise to place the boy under your supervision – he's been well looked after. But even someone of your remarkable abilities might not be enough to get him ready."_

_The masked jonin tilted his head in confusion. "'Ready'? What're you talking about?" he asked._

"_I've been keeping a close watch on Orochimaru all this time ever since the day he left the village. It was clear that he meant to come back someday, and it was important to know what he was planning in the meantime. For many years I observed his movements… but then…"_

"_What?"_

_The Toad Sage's face was grim. "He became part of an organization," he told._

"_What organization? What's its purpose?"_

_The old pervert shook his head. "No one really knows for sure, but it's a roving gang of nine likeminded ninjas who call themselves 'the Akatsuki'. At first, they stuck to small-scale cloak-and-dagger stuff – nothing dramatic – but you knew something big was coming, considering who they are. These are not small-timers. Almost everyone in the organization is listed in the bingo-book as an S-class criminal deviant. For instance… that guy, Itachi, is one of them."_

_He shifted uncomfortably. "When nine ninjas like that get together, it's not because they wanna do charity work. I'm sure you've already got an idea by now as to where this is heading." Kakashi turned to look away. "Recently, the group started splitting up. Orochimaru went off on his own while others paired up and dispersed into different areas, searching for Ninjutsus to master… and other things as well."_

"_And one of the things they're looking for is the Kyubi?" the masked jonin guessed._

"_It's only a… possibility, but it makes sense. After all, the nine-tailed fox has an incredible amount of chakra." He fully turned to face his fellow ninja. "Kakashi… sooner or later, Naruto must learn that, because of what he is, he'll have to live his life while watching his back. That's the boy's destiny. For now, focus on Sasuke; it's up to you to teach him how to use his Sharingan. And I'll keep an eye on Naruto – leave his training to me."_

* * *

><p>"The nine-tailed spirit inside Naruto… that's what you're after?" Kakashi assumed. "You're not the only ones, are you? There are seven more of you out there… searching… hunting… I know all about you… You call yourself 'the Akatsuki'… right?"<p>

Though he did not show outwardly, Itachi was both surprised and angered. "Kisame…" he said coldly. "We'll take Kakashi with us… but we don't need the others. Get rid of them."

The shark-man rushed forward, his sword at the ready, but then…

"Leaf Hurricane!"

With that roar, Guy suddenly appeared and delivered a kick across Kisame's face, which sent him all the way back to Itachi's side. The shark-man recovered and smiled with bloodlust in his eyes. "Well! Who have we here?!" he asked excitedly.

Guy took his infamous fighting stance and gave his trademark smile. "Konoha's fiercest beast of battle!" he introduced. "I am Might Guy!"

Kisame gave a bark-like laugh. "You're Might Guy, huh? 'Mighty Stupid-Looking Guy' is more like it."

"Don't underestimate him," Itachi warned.

At that point, Kakashi passed out, and Guy, the respectful rival that he was, picked up the masked jonin and slung his body over his shoulder. "What they must have put him through…" he muttered.

"Close your eyes! Don't look at Itachi!" Asuma warned. "You'll be caught in his Jutsu!"

"Relax, I know what I'm doing," the youthful teacher retorted. "After spending this much time training to fight Kakashi, I know all about the Sharingan!" He turned to look back at the two rogues. "Alright, both of you – open your eyes now!"

"But… if we…" Kurenai hesitated.

"Don't worry. Just don't look into his eyes – that's the key to fighting an opponent using Sharingan. Focus on his feet; you can read what he's gonna do from his feet."

The other two jonin opened their eyes and avoided the older Uchiha's gaze. "Alright, but that trick sounds a lot easier said than done," Kurenai commented.

"We haven't had all your training. We're not you, Guy," Asuma added.

"True. It takes skills to anticipate an opponent's moves merely from watching his feet, but I don't have time to teach you now. You'll just have to do your best."

"So what do we do?" Asuma asked.

Guy handed over his unconscious rival to the teacher of Team 8. "Kurenai, get Kakashi to the hospital," he commanded. "Asuma, you'll be my backup." He then turned to face the two Akatsuki members and entered a battle stance. "Alright! I've sent word for the ANBU black ops, but until they get here, we hold them off, just you and me."

"Interesting," Kisame smirked, clutching the handle of Samehada and showing off his pointy teeth. "I give you credit for guts."

"No, Kisame… we're pulling out," Itachi said sternly. "We're not here to fight a full-scale battle. Tempting as it may be, it's not the way to do this. Let's go."

After a few seconds of consideration, the shark-man lowered his sword. "That's too bad… it was just getting fun," he sighed in disappointment. "They don't know how lucky they are." And with that said, the two of them disappeared from sight.

* * *

><p>dopliss: You know, I once used Google Translate to find out what 'Sharingan' meant in Japanese… and it's translated into 'Mangekyo'. So… a normal Sharingan is, in Japan, a Mangekyo Sharingan?<p>

Mizuki: It's best if you don't think about it too much. After all, you're not Japanese.


	59. Chapter 59 To Otafuku Town!

**dopliss: And here we have a nice, relaxing chapter, before we go to the heated action in the next.**

**Mizuki: While you write that, how about thinking of something witty to do in your Author's Notes?**

**dopliss: …Maybe I will.**

**Disclaimer: Ya know, I heard that dopliss doesn't own Naruto. Is that true?**

* * *

><p>It was a delightful day full of sunshine. The birds chirped happily, the wind limited itself to being a cool breeze, and there were only a couple of clouds in the sky. All in all, it was a good day for our four heroes to travel to find the fabled sannin who went by the name 'Tsunade'.<p>

Traveling with stuffed backpacks – except for the old pervert, who apparently traveled without belongings – Naruto, Torabu, Takai, and Jiraiya were leisurely wandering through the landscape. The troublemaking ninja and the fiery female were silently looking at their surroundings, smiles on their faces. The Toad Sage himself was walking along with his eyes closed, an irritated frown on his face. The reason for this grimace was the fact that, dancing around him, the orange-clad ninja pestered him impatiently.

"Well? C'mon, Pervy Sage!" he pleaded. "I can't wait! What's this new Jutsu you're gonna teach me?! The last time around, it was the walk on water Jutsu!" He then used a few seconds to wonder. "Ooh, is it walking through fire? Or, wait… Maybe walking on _air_…?" He laughed jovially. "Aw, c'mon, Pervy Sage – let's hear it, already!"

As they approached a small bridge, Jiraiya stopped walking, causing the rest to put a halt to moving, as well. "Alright, enough with the 'Pervy Sage', already," he said, opening his eyes to look sharply at Naruto. "You have no idea how amazing a guy I am, do you?"

"Amazing how? Amazingly old?" the cat-boy guessed, joining the conversation.

The same went for Takai. "Amazingly hairy?" she guessed.

"Amazingly pervy?" Naruto guessed.

The Toad Sage was greatly offended by all three guesses. He ran up on the middle of the bridge and struck an imposing pose. "Alright, listen up!" he announced. "The 'Toad Sage' is only my cover! Allow me to reveal my true identity!" He held on to his bangs and swung his hair around wildly. "From the North to the South and the East to the West… not even the spirits can defeat _this_ sannin! The White-Maned Toad Charmer – a red-hot ninja who strikes fear in the hearts of men! I am Master Jiraiya!" He struck another pose. "Yes! I am speaking of none other than myself!"

The three just stared with bored looks at the old man, who felt their lack of awe and was severely disheartened. As he stood perfectly still like a statue, the others just walked past him, not saying a word.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, staring at our traveling heroes from afar, Itachi and Kisame were standing on a cliff top. "I'm pretty certain you could go toe-to-toe with him… though I'm not sure I could," the latter stated. "He's on a whole other level."<p>

"Yeah," the older Uchiha agreed. "If we faced each other… both of us would be killed – a rather unappealing outcome. Even if there were more of us, the result will remain the same."

The shark-man frowned. "Never thought I'd have to go up against one of the legendary sannin," he said. "If we fight him, both the Uchiha clan and the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist will have their names dragged through the mud."

"True. But still… even the strongest of opponents always has a weakness."

* * *

><p>The traveling group had reached a crossroad, where a sign stood in-between the left and right path. Even though three of them were looking at the sign, Jiraiya was already walking down the left road. "Uh… 'Atafuku Town'," Naruto read. "That's ten kilometers from here."<p>

"No, it's '**O**tafuku Town'," the Toad Sage corrected.

As they caught up to the old pervert, Torabu asked Takai, "Do you know what that place is like?"

The fiery female shook her head. "I haven't been there personally, but I've heard it's a gambler-happy town," she replied.

"Hey! Pervy Sage!" Naruto called.

Jiraiya gave an annoyed glare in the orange-clad boy's direction. "Look, kid, I told you already – it's 'Jiraiya'," he scolded.

Naruto ignored him, however. "So, the fact that such a bigwig pervy sage chose me as his traveling companion must mean something, right?" he asked, looking up at the elder man with big blue eyes. "I must be a potential genius in the making. Oh man, it's just like I've always thought!" He jumped around like an excitable puppy. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon – why did you choose me, huh?"

The Toad Sage sighed and replied, "Well, you see, kid, a long time ago, the Fourth Hokage used to be a disciple of mine." The two young boys' eyes widened upon hearing that. "And you bear such a striking resemblance to the Fourth that it's almost laughable. Sorry – that's the only reason I've got for you."

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Naruto cheered loudly and ran a few feet ahead of the others. "If I'm like the Fourth Hokage, that means I possess the same level of genius as he did!" he roared. "I'm on my way to Hokage, after all! WHOHOOOO!" He danced around happily and then leapt up in the air…

…but then, looking down, his mood changed. The others stood still and watched as the orange-clad ninja struggled uselessly to stay in the air.

_SPLAT!_

"Argh! No! I just stepped in some dog doo-doo!" Naruto groaned loudly.

Jiraiya immediately regretted what he just said. "The only similarities _you _share with the Fourth Hokage is pigheadedness and that spiky yellow hair of yours!" he shouted.

The orange-clad ninja became angered immediately. "What was that?! You senile old fool!" he shouted back, stomping his other foot on the ground.

Big mistake.

_SPLAT!_

"Not again!"

* * *

><p>Back in Konoha…<p>

_KA-BOOOM!_

Sasuke panted heavily as he stared at the crater in the rock formation that his Chidori had made. He was feeling loathe towards himself. In the times where their lives were in great peril, Naruto was the one to win the battle and save them, while Sasuke could do nothing but watch. In the fight against Haku, Sasuke was almost killed. In the fight against Orochimaru, he was scared stiffless. And here in his resent fight with Gaara, he was rendered helpless.

And what did Naruto do in those situations? He managed to defeat Haku, despite the assassin's Kekkei Genkai. He protected his teammates from Orochimaru, despite being clearly weaker than the malicious snake-man. And after fighting tooth and nail to win, he actually defeated Gaara while showing off incredible abilities.

_I wasn't… I wasn't able to do anything… _Sasuke thought. _I don't ever want to have to see that again… watching while my best friends fall right in front of me…! Naruto just gets stronger and stronger… Compared to him… I…_

He narrowed his eyes, made hand-seals and prepared to use another Chidori burst.

* * *

><p>Back with our traveling group, the four of them had decided to take a lunch break at a shrine that they passed by. While three of them were sitting at the nearby steps, Naruto was busy childishly playing with a pair of bells that hung from the small building. He laughed happily as he tugged in the pieces of cloth attached to the two big golden bells.<p>

"Keep it up… you'll be cursed," Jiraiya carelessly warned, eating a banana that he brought along.

Torabu smiled brightly as he opened his backpack. "Oh man, I can't wait!" he cheered.

Amused, Takai asked, "Packed any treats?"

"Ten big, round, tasty buns!" the cat-boy answered, his tail swishing around happily. "Each of them a different flavor – pork, fish, sausage, curry…" He wiped his mouth clean of drool and reached into the pack. "…Huh? Why do I feel something furry?"

He picked up the foreign and unknown item and nearly screamed. What he pulled out was a certain calico-furred cat with a twin-tail and blue vest. "Hello there," Fukigen greeted calmly.

Torabu was dumbstruck, but he slowly regained his bearings. "Wha… wha… what the hell are YOU doing here?!" he demanded, infuriated.

"Word through the grapevine has it you're going to find one of the sannin, so, of course, I had to come along." The Bakeneko burped. "Don't ask how I know; I just do."

"You little…! How dare y- Wait a minute…" Torabu sniffed the air near the feline sensei's mouth. "Pork… fish… sausage…" He gritted his teeth in more anger than before. "You ate all my treats!"

Fukigen glared back. "Well, then you should've brought more along for yourself."

"Why, you little…! I'll skin you alive, you bast—!"

Before the troublemaking ninja could do anything rash, the Bakeneko smacked him on the head with his stick (which he brought out from nowhere), knocking him out. "Kids these days, they just don't know how to share…" he grumbled.

Jiraiya looked back at Naruto, who had created three Shadow Clones to help play with the bell, two of them standing on the other two's shoulders. "Hey, Pervy Sage," the orange-clad ninja called. "What kind of a student was the Fourth Hokage?"

The old pervert shrugged. "Well, I guess it's safe to say he rose to greatness because of _my_ tutelage," he bragged. "So, to land me as a sensei… well, kid, let's just say you've hit the jackpot, okay?" The faces the four Narutos made indicated disbelief. "Oh, what, you don't believe me? A good sensei will naturally beget good disciples – that goes without saying."

"Wait a second…" Naruto got a thoughtful face. "If that's true, then who did you have for a sensei?"

The Toad Sage smiled. "Who, me?" he asked. "I first studied under the Third Hokage."

"The Third, huh?"

The old pervert looked at the skies. "Yep," he replied. "This was back when the Third Hokage was still a young spring chicken."

The four clones made faces. "The Hokage… a spring chicken…?"

Jiraiya looked back at the boy and his clones. "That's right. I was a young buck, myself, back then."

At the shock of the thought of a younger and friskier Jiraiya, Naruto accidentally pulled the bells loose and got wrapped up in the attached cloth. As his clones disappeared, he and the bells rolled down the steps. Once he was at the bottom of the steps, he laughed sheepishly, "I, uh… got a little tangled up."

The old pervert shook his head disapprovingly. "What'd I tell you? Those curses are no joke." The sight of Naruto with the bells reminded him of something. "Wait a second – if you've studied with Kakashi, that means you must have gone through the bell test, am I right?"

"Huh? Yeah, I did. I forgot about that…" But after remembering the embarrassment that happened to him that day, he regretted remembering. "…Only I was tied to a stump. Man, I forgot how bad all that stunk."

"What? You, too, huh?" the Toad Sage asked in surprise.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Huh? 'Me, too'…?" he asked. "'Me, too' what?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Never mind, forget about it," he said. "Just hurry up and put those things back where you got them."

"Easier said than done," the orange-clad boy complained, wiggling to get free. "I'm kinda tied up."

Smiling a little, the Toad Sage looked back at his past.

* * *

><p><em>Many years ago, Jiraiya was put through the bell test by the Third Hokage, along with his fellow two sannin, Tsunade and Orochimaru, the latter of the two much, MUCH nicer back then. Unlike how Team 6 and Team 7 had been tested, the three sannin had to snatch two bells from the village leader. The Toad Sage was, much like Naruto, overconfident and believed that he would pass the test with bravura.<em>

_He sure was wrong._

_Throughout the whole thing, he was outsmarted by his sensei, until it ended up with him tied to a pole and his teammates each holding a bell. As a consolation prize, the Third Hokage kept the young pervert company. "You're unbelievable, you know that?" the village leader sighed. "How can you be a ninja if you keep falling for obvious traps over and over again? You could learn a few things from Orochimaru."_

_Jiraiya growled in annoyance. "It's always the same thing with you, Sensei!" he complained. "Orochimaru this and Orochimaru that! The transparency Jutsu I use is _flawless_ when I'm out researching!"_

_Sarutobi groaned. "Oh boy… I'm not even sure I wanna know where you are with transparency."_

"_I haven't been caught peeping yet! It's true, I swear!"_

_After a few seconds of silence, the Hokage finally spoke. "Alright then, if you're so sure of yourself…" He glanced away, blushing. "…I'll, uh, have to tag along next time."_

…

"…_Wow, Sarutobi-sensei, you're a perv…"_

* * *

><p>The old pervert chuckled to himself. Naruto, who had just finished putting the bells back in their proper place, overheard and asked, "Hey, what's so funny, Pervy Sage?"<p>

The Toad Sage turned to face the orange-clad boy and lied, "Just what I was saying before. You know, a good teacher produces good disciples."

The yellow-haired boy looked confused. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Jiraiya looked away. "Just make sure everything's back the way it was and let's go."

Naruto assured himself that the bells were securely fastened to their places and gave a respectful prayer.

* * *

><p>Back in Konoha, the silence was heavy in Kakashi's room. Kurenai, Asuma and Guy had brought their unconscious ally back to his apartment so he could recover. "They're trouble," Guy stated. "But from the looks of things, it doesn't appear they've found Naruto yet."<p>

"That's what's crazy," Asuma commented. "It doesn't add up. I mean, they had already infiltrated the village; it should be easy for them to find Naruto here. Besides, Itachi knows Naruto's face already."

Guy shushed on his ally, because he heard that someone was coming. A few seconds later, Sasuke entered the room, and he was surprised by the sight. "Why is Kakashi asleep?" he asked. "And why is this room full of jonins? What're you doing? What in the world is going on here?"

At a loss for a good lie, Guy replied, "Uh… not much, really."

But then, ruining the secret completely, a jonin burst into the room and loudly asked, "Hey, is it true that Itachi has returned, and that he's come here to get Naruto?!"

Once the intruder saw Sasuke, Kurenai could not help but mutter, "Idiot."

"Why does this always have to happen?" Guy groaned, smacking himself in the face.

Sasuke's facial expression turned all… wrong. His eyes widened as much as humanly possible, his brow furrowed, and his mouth curved downwards. He ran out of the room and down on the streets, desperately searching for his rival – where he was, his brother was certain to be near.

_So he's come back to the village, huh?_ he thought bitterly. _And he's after Naruto?! What does this mean?! If Naruto gets caught, he's dead! I won't let that happen!_ He arrived at Ichiraku and shouted, "Old man! Naruto stopped by here today; do you know where he went after that?!"

The owner of the ramen shop was calm despite seeing the worry in the young Uchiha's features. "Oh, sure, Naruto…" he said, putting a hand on his chin. "That's right, lemme see, now… He met Master Jiraiya here around noon; they had a little bit of ramen, then they said they were heading off somewhere."

Sasuke wasted no time in acquiring the necessary information. "Where to?!" he asked.

The owner thought for a few seconds. "Now that I think about it, I believe he mentioned that outpost town a ways out from the village. Yeah… and then he set out with Master Jiraiya, his tailed friend and that red-clad lady."

The blue-haired boy knew who the latter two were, but he had no idea about the first one that was mentioned. "Jiraiya…?" he asked, calmly this time.

The owner smiled. "Yeah, Jiraiya – he's one of the legendary sannin. If you wanna find him, then look for a big old fella with a head of white hair."

"A big guy, white hair…" Sasuke noted, and then he was off.

"H-Hey!" the owner called, slightly disappointed. "Aw, come on… If you're gonna stop by to ask some questions, the least you can do is order some ramen."

* * *

><p>Upon their arrival at Otafuku Town, our heroes found out that Takai's description was accurate. Around the place, several stands with roulettes, several sellers and several street performers were littering the streets. Of course, among these things were a few inns and shops for normal, everyday stuff, like alcohol or vegetables or fruit or other such necessities.<p>

Speaking of inns, our four friends had found a place to stay for the night. Naruto was not pleased – it was not the place they were sleeping at, oh no, but the fact that they were crashing the place period. "Why are we staying here? I can still walk," he complained.

"A disciple should always obey his master," Jiraiya stated sternly.

"Look, I just wanna learn some Jutsus, okay?"

"Yeah, no kidding, that's what makes you a disciple."

Meanwhile, Torabu was planning to get some revenge on his former sensei. "Excuse me," he said to the receptionist. "I was just wondering… are pets allowed here?"

The innkeeper smiled. "Yes, they are… not that you appear to have any with you," she said.

Feeling a strong kick on his back, the cat-boy cursed mentally.

A little while later, someone who passed by the inn managed to unintentionally break Naruto's and Jiraiya's argument, mostly due to the fact that she was a bewitching beauty. Dressed in a short, strapless dress, the woman smiled at the two and brushed her long black hair, her dark-brown eyes inviting. As the two males became more and more excited, she goaded them to come closer with her index finger.

Quick and strategic, Jiraiya placed the room key in the young boy's hands. "Here you go," he said. "I want you to go to the room, train a little bit, work on your chakra, and then go to bed, alright?"

Obviously, Naruto was not amused. "Oh, so I suppose you're gonna tell me it's time for the grownups to play now?!" he shouted. "Is THAT why you're here, you big perv?!"

* * *

><p>A little while later, Naruto sat in his room, meditating and occasionally creating a Shadow Clone. He grumbled lowly to himself about the way Jiraiya acted towards him, wondering if he was actually planning to train him at all. Torabu and Takai were staying in the room opposite of his, so they could easily get into contact with each other.<p>

At some point, however, he saw that his twenty clones had all fallen asleep. "Uh, guys… when did we decide it was naptime in here?" he asked, dumbstruck.

He then heard a knocking on the door and released the Jutsu, letting his clones disappear into thin air. Believing it was Jiraiya, he asked, annoyed, "Oh, what now? Are you telling me she dumped you already?" He got up and headed for the door, the person on the other side knocking again. "I heard you the first time!"

But when he opened the door, he did not see the Toad Sage.

Instead, what greeted him was an imposing man with onyx eyes, which seemed to glare directly at the orange-clad ninja's soul.

* * *

><p>dopliss: Next chapter will include Brothers Fan-service duking it out. Don't you miss it!<p> 


	60. Chapter 60 Brother versus brother

**dopliss: (excited) Guess what, guys?! IT'S OVER TEN THOUSAAAAAAAAND!**

**(Earthquake due to epicness)**

**Mizuki: Holy crap!**

**dopliss: That's right! This story has reached over ten thousand views! I never imagined it would be that popular. You guys are awesome! More than me!**

**Disclaimer: For the sixtieth time: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

><p>Sasuke ran through Otafuku Town as fasts as his legs could carry him. He looked around frantically, searching for the inn where Naruto was sleeping at. No matter the cost, he absolutely <em>had <em>to find him, for his elder brother was certain to already having found him. He would not let those he cares get killed, just like five years ago.

Five years ago…

* * *

><p><em>It was a sunny morning in Konoha. Bustling around with their usual routines were the housewives of the Uchiha clan, which had its members living in their very own neighborhood. Several decorations – lamps, banners, etc. – were hanging around the buildings, each bearing the clan's mark, which had the shape of a table tennis racket.<em>

_In a certain house was a younger Itachi Uchiha, who was on his way out. He had just finished putting on his shoes when he heard a voice behind him._

"_Big Brother…?"_

_He turned around and saw his younger brother, a seven-year-old Sasuke. "Do you, um… think you could help me out with my shuriken Jutsu after school today?" he asked._

"_No, I can't; I'm busy," Itachi declined. "Why don't you go ask father to help you?"_

_The younger Uchiha pouted. "Aw, c'mon… You're better at the shuriken Jutsu than father is. I mean, even _I _can see that." After a little bit of silence, he then asked, "Big Brother, why do you always treat me like such a pest?"_

_Itachi goaded his brother closer, and when he was within range, he then playfully poked him in the forehead with his left index finger and middle finger, a small smile on his lips. "I'm sorry, Sasuke," he apologized. "Some other time, okay? I don't have time for this today."_

_Sasuke noticed a very somber look in his eyes, which he had never seen before. But he shrugged it off as nothing and rubbed his forehead. "You're always doing this to me," he stated. "You jab me in the forehead and then say 'I'm sorry, Sasuke'. And you never have time – it's always the same story." He gave a small smile of admiration as he saw his elder brother leave._

_A little later, he sat at his family's dining table, watching his father drink his tea and his mother make lunch. "Father," the young Uchiha started, "how come… how come Big Brother never pays any attention to me?"_

"_Your brother has always been a little strange, son," his father said, looking down at his green drink. "He has a hard time dropping his guard around other people, letting them in."_

_Sasuke tilted his head a little. "What do you mean?" he asked._

"_I don't know," the grown man sighed. "Even I can't read him, and I'm the boy's father. That kid…"_

_At that moment, Sasuke's mother turned around, a boxed lunch in her hand and a kind smile on her lips. "Okay – here's your lunch, Sasuke," she said cheerfully. "And as for your shuriken practice, I can help you work on it when you get home, if you want."_

"_It's not just practice; it's actual training," Sasuke stated as he grabbed his lunch and headed out. "See you later!"_

_As he walked along the streets, he passed an old lady who was busy sweeping the ground. "Good morning, Sasuke," she greeted. "Heading off to school now, are you?" He stopped and nodded in response. He considered the old woman and her husband close enough to him to be his uncle and aunt. "I saw your brother earlier – he's grown into such a man. He's an excellent ninja, isn't he? Graduating from school at age seven and first in his class! And he was a chunin at ten, wasn't he?"_

"_Yeah," Sasuke smiled. "And he could use Sharingan by the time he was eight."_

_The old woman smiled back. "That's right; how could I forget? That boy is the pride of the Uchiha clan, no doubt about it. What about you, Sasuke? How old are you now?"_

_The boy's smile faded and he looked down at the ground, depressed. _I'm the same age as my brother when he graduated… but I'm…

_The old lady noticed this change in the young child's mood. "What's the matter, child?" she asked._

_Then, the old woman's husband showed up and walked up beside his wife. "Honey, stop talking nonsense to the boy, will ya?" he asked, a smile on his face._

_She turned her head to look at him. "What do you mean, dear?" she asked._

_The old man put his hands on his hips and looked down at the young Uchiha. "Sasuke," he started, "both you and Itachi are of the Uchiha clan, the brightest gem of Konoha. Have faith in yourself! Someday, you'll be an outstanding ninja, just like Itachi."_

_His mood lightened, Sasuke smiled and ran off. "See you later!"_

"_Just do your best!" the old man called._

"_Study hard, now, and you'll be fine!" the old woman advised._

_Sasuke was determined. He was a member of the great and widely known Uchiha clan, and he would not let them down by not being a great ninja. His elder brother has risen to greatness and was still getting better. Was he one to let Itachi's superiority get the better of him? No. He was willing to practice and become so strong that he would never again be overshadowed by his elder kin._

* * *

><p><em>Night has fallen and a full moon hung on the night sky. Sasuke was running through the streets of Konoha; he had spent too much time training. As he ran, he suddenly felt like he was being watched. He took a quick stop to look around, but no one was there. Yet, he noticed something else – all the lights in the surrounding houses were out. <em>It's too early for everyone to go to bed… _he thought, suspicious._

_He resumed running, but when he came to his neighborhood, he was in for a shock. The decorations that bore the mark of the Uchiha clan were destroyed, kunai and shuriken were scattered around or stuck in walls, blood were splattered all over, and – the most horrifying sight for Sasuke – members of the clan lay on the ground, dead._

_Scared, feeling a lump form in his throat and struggling not to let out any tears, Sasuke ran through the streets in search of someone alive. But alas, he only found more and more dead bodies as he ran along. He then spotted someone familiar and grinded to a halt. Right in front of him, lying on the ground with stains of their own blood on them, was the old couple that he considered his uncle and aunt. He felt like puking, but held it in with all his mental might. And then his eyes widened as he came o a shocking realization._

"_Oh no! Mother and father!" he gasped and hurried home._

_As he opened the front door, he found the place completely silent. Mustering up all his courage, he entered, took his shoes off, and searched for his family. "F-Father…? Mother…?" he called as quietly as possible."Is anyone here?"_

_After finding the dining room and the living room empty, he heard a loud 'THUD!' coming from the house's dojo. He quickly rushed towards the source of the noise and stopped in front of the closed double doors. He froze, cold sweat running down his body. He sensed someone behind the door… It was the murderer. He just knew it was. Gathering up all of his courage and breathing heavily, he forced his body to grip the handles and slowly open the door._

_Once he did, he immediately regretted doing it._

_The light from the moon shining down through the windows upon them, lying in the middle of the big room lay Sasuke's mother and father, both of them lifeless and with blood seeping out of them. He felt his heart cry out in a mixture of pain and sorrow, the feeling of vomit crawling up in his throat became stronger, and his eyes twitched in eagerness to let tears flow. Those who he had loved… those who had loved him… those who gave their flesh and blood to him… were no longer with him._

_And it all got worse when he saw Itachi step out of the shadows behind the corpses, a katana on his back and a cold look in his eyes, which sported the crimson color and odd pupils of the Sharingan. "Big Brother!" Sasuke gasped. "Itachi… father and mother are both…! I don't… understand… W-Who could do all this?!"_

_A shuriken whizzed past him and got stuck in the door behind him, followed by a surge of pain in his left shoulder from a cut. Clutching his injury, he looked at his brother with wide, frightened, confused eyes. After a few seconds of silence, he pieced together the truth. "Oh no… What have you done?!"_

_Itachi closed his eyes. "Foolish little brother," he said. "I almost pity you." He opened his eyes again and stared directly into his brother's eyes. "Mangekyo Sharingan."_

_Sasuke suddenly found himself standing out on the streets again, except that everything in his sight was black and white. He found himself frozen in place, and he really wanted to run away – because, right in front of him, he saw several men and women who belonged to his clan drop dead like flies. His mind could not handle the situation, and so he screamed while holding his head in throbbing pain. "Stop it!" he cried out in anguish. "Itachi! Why are you showing me this?! Why did you do this, Brother?! No… NO!"_

_At the sight of seeing his parents getting cut down by Itachi's blade, the illusion ended. As the elder Uchiha's eyes returned to normal, Sasuke collapsed onto the floorboards, shivering and whimpering in absolute fear. At this point, he saw no reason to hold back his tears and let them flow freely. He looked up at his brother and found his voice to speak. "…Why…?" he asked. "Why did you do this…? Itachi, why…?"_

"_To test the limits… of my ability," the elder Uchiha answered._

_Sasuke was shocked even further. "To test you… ability?" he asked. "_That's _why you did this?" He grit his teeth as his dread was slowly replaced by anger. "You're telling me that _that_ was the reason… that you butchered every single member of our clan?"_

_Itachi closed his eyes. "It is of great importance."_

"_What're you saying?!" Sasuke quickly got on his feet and rushed towards his elder brother, screaming, "You're out of your mind!"_

_Before he even could lay a finger on him, however, the elder Uchiha struck him in the stomach with a right punch that knocked the air out of him. Sasuke collapsed on the floor again, this time from pain rather than sorrow. He stared at the dead bodies of his parents and then figured out one very frightening fact._

_If Itachi had killed all in the clan… that meant he was next._

"_I'm scared… I'm scared!" he whimpered as he clumsily got on his feet and ran out of the room, more frightened than he was minutes before. He ran out of the house and onto the streets, desperate to get as far away from his brother as possible, his legs running as fast as they could. "Please! I don't wanna die!"_

_His attempt at escaping was blown to kingdom come when he suddenly ran into someone and fell onto his butt. He looked up with wide eyes and saw Itachi glare down at him. "P-Please… don't kill me…!" the younger Uchiha pleaded._

"_You're not even worth killing," the elder Uchiha replied. "Foolish little brother… If you wish to kill me one day, foster your hatred and despise me. Surviving such an unsightly macabre as this… By all means, flee… cling to your wretched life."_

_And living in hatred and contempt was what Sasuke did…_

* * *

><p>Naruto stood frozen in shock as he looked up into Itachi's eyes. At first, he thought that it was Sasuke, but he quickly denied that theory. All that he knew was that whoever this stranger in front of him was, he had the same Sharingan as his rival.<p>

Kisame entered the orange-clad boy's view and smirked. "Hard to believe that such a child carries the Kyubi," he said.

Naruto's eyes widened. _How does this guy know about the nine-tailed fox?!_ he wondered.

"Naruto… you're coming with us," Itachi said in a slightly commanding voice. "Why don't we take a walk?"

Naruto knew that these two strangers were on a whole other level, so fighting hem would be suicidal. Quietly, he stepped out of the room. "Hey, Itachi," Kisame suddenly said. "Wouldn't it be quite a pain in the ass if this kid makes a run for it? Maybe I oughta… chop off a leg, just in case?"

The orange-clad boy stared with wide eyes as the shark-man grabbed the hilt of his huge sword. Then, unexpectedly, a nearby door opened and revealed Torabu and Takai, who were both confused at the sight in front of them. "Hey… what's going on?" the latter asked.

The cat-boy looked closely at the two rogues, but mostly at Itachi. _Sasuke…? No… that's not him, _he thought._ But, why does this guy look like him? And why is he wearing the same clothes as that guy with the freaky skin?_

Kisame ignored the two and took his partner's silence as a positive response. He took a few steps towards the petrified Naruto and prepared to strike…

"…It's been a long time… Sasuke."

Upon hearing Itachi suddenly speaking, the rest of them turned to look in his direction. Behind the elder Uchiha, at the end of the hallway, there stood Sasuke, a vicious scowl on his face and narrowed Sharingan Eyes. "Itachi… Uchiha…" he growled.

Upon hearing the name – especially the last name – the others looked curiously at the elder Uchiha. Kisame smirked at the surprising turn of events. "Well… The Sharingan," he muttered. "And he looks an awful lot like you… Itatchi, who is this kid?"

"He's my younger brother," Itachi answered.

"That's strange. 'Cause the way I heard it, the whole Uchiha clan was wiped out… by you."

"Itachi Uchiha…!" Sasuke hissed, his voice dripping with poison. "I hope you're ready to die!"

Suddenly, it all made sense to Naruto. Back when Sasuke told that he wanted to kill a 'certain someone', and what he told his purpose of living was when he was badly damaged by Haku… this was the person he was referring to.

Itachi fully turned to face his younger brother, who was glaring angrily at him. "It's just as you said, Brother…" the younger Uchiha seethed. "I have fostered my hatred for you all this time! I've lived my life for one single purpose… to see you DIE! IT ENDS HERE!" He gathered chakra into his left hand and prepared to use the Chidori attack.

As the loud sound of chirping birds was heard throughout the hallway, Sasuke roared as he ran towards his brother, his left hand close to the wall, tearing into it. Once he was close enough, he thrust his arm forward with the intent to kill…

…but then Itachi, in a blink of an eye, caught his brother's arm by the wrist and made the attack connect with the wall, blowing it up. Naruto, Torabu and Takai were stunned upon seeing an attack that powerful being deflected so easily – except for Torabu, who was both stunned from seeing the attack being deflected _and_ from seeing the attack period. Naruto quickly recovered from his amazement and decided to help Sasuke, charging up his red chakra.

This action did not go unnoticed, however. "Hah… the air is ripe with chakra," Kisame noticed. "This must be it; the power of the Kyubi."

Itachi decided to focus on his mission and clenched his brother's wrist hard. A sickening '_Crack!_' was heard, followed by Sasuke screaming in pain and falling to his knees. At the sight of seeing his friend in pain, Naruto became angered. "Alright, that's it!" he shouted and bit a hole in his thumb. "Ninja Art: Summoning—!"

"Too slow!" the shark-man said and swung his sword over Naruto's head, somehow managing to make the glow of red chakra disappear.

Naruto was shocked; he felt that his chakra was not there. But he would not give up and tried to channel more through his body. "Come on… come on! What the hell is going on?!" he growled.

The sound of chewing was heard from Kisame's sword as the bandages shifted. "Sorry, kid," he mocked. "My blade, Samehada, cuts through chakra and _devours _it!" He then spoke to his partner. "We don't need the hassle of this kid whipping out any more Jutsus. Forget the legs… maybe I oughta start off with those arms of his?"

Torabu was completely frozen in shock. _W-What can I do?! _he wondered frantically. _One of them was able to counter… whatever that was, and the other one has something that eats chakra for breakfast! How can I compete with that?! How can _any _of us compete with that?!_

The shark-man raised his sword over his head, enjoying the sight of his victim's futile attempt at gathering chakra. He then swung the sword downwards…

…only for it to be blocked by a human-sized orange toad with armor plating on its body. Following that was a puff of smoke appearing behind the orange-clad boy, and then Jiraiya stepped out, the beautiful woman in a blue dress hanging over his shoulder.

"You two don't know me at all, do you?" the Toad Sage asked with a victorious smirk on his face. "You should have done your homework. Jiraiya the Toad Sage falls victim to no woman's charm; real beauty drops for me, like blossoms in a storm! It isn't in my nature to be duped by the wiles of a woman! When you've reached the stature I have… THE LADIES… _KNEEL AND WORSHIP… __**AT YOUR AWESOMENESS!**_" He struck a pose, which he hoped would struck awe into everyone in the hallway.

He hoped wrong.

"Oh, don't give me that!" Naruto shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the old pervert. "One wink from a pretty girl, and you turned into a mountain of mush! You fell for it like a ton of bricks, Pervy Sage!"

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head and laughed sheepishly. "I really wish you wouldn't call me that in front of other people…" he said.

"Are you kidding me?! We've got worse things to worry about than what these guys think of you! Get working, Pervy Sage!"

Fed up with that name, the Toad Sage snapped, "DIDN'T I JUST TELL YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT?!"

Kisame chuckled, a deadly smirk on his lips. "Whatever name you go by, Master Jiraiya, I must say, you're something of a disappointment," he said. "A lecherous old man with the disposition of a child? It's almost impossible to believe that you are one of the three legendary sannin."

Naruto was shocked. "You- You already know who he is?!" he asked.

Jiraiya tried to wave this off. "Uh, don't be fooled by appearances or, you know, anything this little squirt might say," he laughed good-naturedly.

The shark-man shifted his gaze over on the unconscious woman. "So, you somehow managed to release the Genjutsu we cast on her, eh?" It was more of a statement than a question.

A frown appeared on the old pervert's face as he gently put the woman down against one of the walls. "What kind of coward would do something like that?" he asked accusingly. "Using his Sharingan to inflict an illusion Jutsu on an innocent woman, all in order to separate Naruto from me…" He glared at the two rogues. "I know that _he's _the one you're really after."

Itachi remembered what Kakashi had said to him after their fight and finally got the picture. "That explains how Kakashi knew…" he muttered. "Now I understand. He learned it… from you. You were right – Naruto is the prize that the Akatsuki are after… and we _will _have him."

Jiraiya made the toad disappear and said in an unusually serious voice, "No way you're getting Naruto."

"We'll see about that."

The Toad Sage smirked. "Actually, this is all very convenient," he said. "I can eliminate you both at the same time."

"…Stay out of this!"

Upon hearing that last sentence, most of them looked at Sasuke, who had managed to stand up, his left arm hanging limply by his side. "The only one… who's going to eliminate _him_… is me!" he said, exhausted.

Itachi did not even bother turning around to fully face his little brother. "Go away," he said coldly. "You don't interest me at the moment."

"Well, GET INTERESTED!"

Sasuke tried to throw a right punch, but he was countered by a severe left kick to the stomach, which sent him flying backwards and colliding with a wall. While Torabu and Takai were still stunned, Naruto was, of course, angered. "Damn you lousy…!" he cursed as he ran towards his friend.

"No, Naruto!" the younger Uchiha sibling shouted, causing his rival to stop dead in his track. "Don't butt in! Mind your own business!" He used the wall as support to stand up. "I told you before… I've lived my whole life for this day, this moment..." He glared intently at his brother. "THIS FIGHT IS MINE!"

He rushed towards his opponent again, ready to strike with his one good arm, but just like before, his attack was countered and he was sent flying back into the wall. Itachi watched as his little brother struggled to stand up again, unable to even make a hand-seal. "So be it," he said.

Jiraiya knew what the elder Uchiha was planning and tried to stop him, but Kisame blocked his way. "You heard him, old man," the shark-man taunted, a smirk on his lips. "This fight is none of our business. Let's let the two of them sort it out."

Itachi slowly walked up to Sasuke. Once he was close enough, the younger sibling tried to attack, but the elder brother quickly punched him in the stomach, causing him to cough up blood. He then used the same arm to slam his elbow into the back of the blue-haired boy's head, which was followed up by a left knee to the chin, and then another punch in the stomach, knocking him down.

_All these years… nothing has changed, _Sasuke thought as he lay there, hurting all over. _How can it be? What have I been doing all these years…? Was it… was it all for this?_

Itachi, bored with his younger brother, picked him up by the collar and pressed him against the wall. "You're still too weak," he said. "You don't have enough hate. And you know something?" He leaned in close to whisper in his ear. "You never will." He then leaned backwards and used his Tsukuyomi on Sasuke.

What the blue-haired boy saw was kind of an ironic punishment. He was trying to avenge his clan for their murder, and now he had to relive the night it happened. "_Yes…_" he heard Itachi's voice say. "_You are seeing our childhood home… You are weak, Sasuke. And twenty-four hours from now, you'll be weaker still._"

Sasuke let out bloodcurdling screams of pain – both inside and outside of his mind – as the illusion tore and clawed at his mental state. "Isn't that heartwarming?" Kisame said sarcastically. "Using Tsukuyomi on his own brother…"

When he saw Sasuke's body go limp from unconsciousness, _that_ was the last straw for Naruto. "That does it! I'm through standing around!" he swore and rushed to his friend's aid, Kisame hot on his heels.

Then, all of a sudden, the entire hallway was covered with meat, making it look like a giant colon! Jiraiya, his hands pressed against the floor, smirked and said, "Ninja Art: Toad Mouth Trap." He took delight in seeing Sasuke safely stuck to the wall and Kisame's feet and sword getting stuck on the ground. "You've both just been swallowed by the Mountain Toad! Welcome, my friends, to the belly of the beast! He has a very sensitive digestive track; be careful not to upset him. Not the most glorious way to die, is it? It must be humbling to know that you've been reduced to toad bait."

"Ugh, gross!" Takai groaned, holding a hand at her mouth.

"This is just creepy," Torabu commented.

"Guys, stay still," the Toad Sage advised. "Just remain calm and trust in my Jutsu."

"Kisame – come," Itachi ordered.

"Easier said than done…" the shark-man groaned as he ripped his feet and sword free and ran down the hallway after his partner.

"It's useless!" the old pervert shouted. "The ninja hasn't been born who can survive this powerful stomach!"

As the two rogues ran, they noticed that portions of the walls were extending and chasing after them, like the tentacles of an octopus. "Don't look now; there's a wall of flesh coming after us!" Kisame warned as he cut some of the closest tendrils. As they approached the exit, they saw that the walls were closing it. "It's too fast – we won't make it!"

Jiraiya was surprised when he heard the sound of an explosion. He and Naruto ran further down the hallway to check, and they saw a huge hole in the wall, with black flames dancing along the perimeter. _He did the impossible… he broke through the wall._

As Jiraiya was sealing the flames in one of his scrolls, the troublemaking ninja and the fiery female ran up to check on Sasuke. The young Uchiha's eyes were wide open, yet there was no trace of life in them. "If only Sai was here; she could heal him up in seconds," the former stated.

From inside one of the rooms, Fukigen was narrowing his eyes. _The Akatsuki…_ he thought. _If they're after Naruto, Torabu is sure to trying defending him with his life. If that's the case, I'll have to train him more._

Done dealing with the fire, the Toad Sage made the flesh disappear. Things seemed to be calm for our heroes… but then…

"Dynamic Entry!"

With that roar, Might Guy suddenly appeared out of nowhere and planted his foot into Jiraiya's face. A few seconds later, the youthful teacher went pale after noticing the old pervert glaring at him from the floor with a big frown on his face. "Uh… I-I guess I was a bit overenthusiastic," he sheepishly laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "You see, I… I was trying to hurry and I couldn't see very clearly. Using my headband to peer into the opening, all I could see were two sinister figures."

The Toad Sage was not made any less angry from that explanation. "You know what?" he asked through gritted teeth, standing up. "If this is your way of saying sorry, it stinks!"

"I'm sorry, but… it was just a simple misunderstanding."

"'Simple-minded' is more like it! But never mind that now; we've got to get Sasuke to the hospital at once." Jiraiya turned to look at the boy in question. "He's badly beaten up. His arm is broken and he's been knocked out by whatever Jutsu that was that Itachi used on him."

"Sasuke will be all right, won't he?" Torabu asked, worried.

"Physically, yes, but I am worried about what may have been done to his mind."

Naruto shook with anger as he remembered the brutal beatdown that Sasuke had received. "Okay, Pervy Sage…" he growled with his fists clenched. "It's time for a new game plan, starting right now. I admit, I let those goons scare me a little, but that's over. No more running – after all, it's me they're after, right?" He looked directly at the old pervert's face, his eyes full of determination. "Well, okay then! It's time I give 'em what they want!"

"Jiraiya scoffed. "Nice speech, kid, but I'm afraid you wouldn't stand a chance against them," he stated. "You're not in the same league as them. What would've happened if I hadn't shown up just now, huh? It took all I had to get them away from you."

The orange-clad boy was not pleased. "Is that right? So, what are you suggesting – that we just do nothing, sitting here waiting for them to hit us again?! What kind of strategy is that?!"

"Just be quiet!" the Toad Sage snapped, causing Naruto to shut up. "You haven't earned the right."

"This is obviously the same Jutsu that Kakashi was hit with," Guy thought aloud. "What we need is a supreme medical specialist, a master of healing arts, and soon."

Jiraiya glanced at the jonin. "You're right, and the woman you're talking about is the same one we've come to find," he said.

Guy was confused at first, but then his eyes widened. "You don't mean…!" he gasped.

The old pervert smirked and chuckled. "Yes, that's exactly who I mean," he confirmed. "Another of the legendary sannin, the queen of slugs and elixirs… I am talking about none other than the gambling fool and mistress of the healing arts: Lady Tsunade!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Itachi and Kisame were leaping across a lake. "So we just run away again?" the latter asked, annoyed. "We do a lot of that."<p>

"There's no rush for now," the older Uchiha stated calmly. "We'll get Naruto when the time is right. Besides, I felt it wise for us to find some place to rest for a while and recharge my powers." _On top of Tsukuyomi… to have to use Amaterasu as well… it's more exhausting than I thought._

And so, he stopped using the Sharingan. For now, at least.

* * *

><p>dopliss: And there you have it, folks! We've shown the Uchiha clan massacre, Sasuke and Itachi fighting, and Jiraiya's very weird and odd Jutsus. Not bad for the sixtieth chapter, no?<p>

Mizuki: No, it's not bad. Do you wanna hear what I would call it?

dopliss: If I wanted to hear insults, I would have written a troll fic.


	61. Chapter 61 Party time!

**dopliss: Hey, guys! Here I am again. I'm SO sorry for not having updated in these past… two weeks…**

**Mizuki: You'd better be.**

**dopliss: (offended) …but I have several good reasons for that. For example, I've had a lot of homework, my birthday is coming up (woohoo!), and I've been through a little crisis back at home.**

**Mizuki: (quirks an eyebrow) What crisis?**

**dopliss: Well, you see, my big brother has gambled away every last bit of his money, and my little sister appears to have scoliosis. Not that any of you care about my personal life. Let's get this story back on track!**

**Disclaimer: Even with my two-week break, I still remember to say I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

><p>As our four traveling heroes prepared to leave, Guy had volunteered to carry Sasuke back to Konoha for some much needed medical treatment. The youthful sensei gave a slight plea of getting Tsunade back to the village, to which Naruto swore they will get her convinced in no time at all. Guy, claiming that nothing impresses him more than guts, decided to give the orange-clad boy a present, which he claimed was the same that made Lee as strong as he was.<p>

With a flashing smile and a 'thumbs-up', he presented Naruto with a green jumpsuit exactly identical to the one both he and his protégé wore. The orange-clad boy was ecstatic and accepted the gift with gusto, returning the flashy smile.

Torabu and Takai were not very impressed, failing to see how a jumpsuit can make someone powerful. Jiraiya, however, found it to be an embarrassment, and persuaded Naruto not to wear it in public. Or at all, for that matter.

On the road again, Naruto could not help but think about what Itachi had said to Jiraiya during their confrontation. Wanting his questions answered, he stopped walking, causing the rest of the group to stop as well and turn to look at him. "So, Pervy Sage…" the orange-clad boy started. "What exactly did those guys want with me, anyway?"

The Toad Sage quietly looked at Naruto, a small frown on his face. Finally, he spoke. "Don't get the wrong idea, kid. It's not _you _they want… it's what's inside of you."

Naruto looked down and pressed one hand to his chest, knowing full well what the old pervert was referring to. "What the heck is this thing, anyway?" he wondered. "Some horrible demon that terrorized Konoha – that's why everyone's so afraid of it, right? So why do these guys want it so bad?"

Jiraiya looked levelly at the orange-clad boy. "The Kyubi has appeared in times of consequence, all throughout the ages," he told. "It's a ghastly spirit that destroys all that lays in its path. As powerful as any act of nature, man trembled before it. As for what they would want with that malicious monstrosity… that's a hard question to answer, Naruto. I honestly can't say. I suppose, with the nine-tailed fox sealed up inside you, they might be thinking of somehow… seizing control of that power, bending it to their will. It's a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that those two will be after you now, but that is your fate."

He gave an assuring smile. "Not to worry, though. After all, you will have _me _around."

After hearing all this, one would expect Naruto to be a little worried. But no. Instead, he just smiled jovially and said, "Oh well, I'll just have to hurry up and get stronger, no other choice!" He then tightened his muscles, excited. "Alright! Let's find this Tsunade woman you're talking about, so she can fix up Sasuke and we can get down to some serious training!"

Jiraiya chuckled as he and the others resumed walking. _This kid's got a one-track mind… _he mused.

After a bit of walking, Torabu decided to ask a question. "Hey, old-timer," he started, carelessly swishing his tail around, "this Tsunade we're looking for… is she the one you were tasked with to find?"

"Bravo," the Toad Sage said sarcastically. "You must be the smartest cat in the world to figure that out by now."

"Ha-ha," the cat-boy replied sarcastically. "Anyway, you also mentioned she's one of the three sannin, like you, right?"

"Yeah, I said that. What're you getting at, kid?"

"Well… how old is she?"

The old pervert smirked and pointed at himself with his right thumb. "Same age as me," he answered.

Both of the young boys cringed, imagining Tsunade as some wrinkly old mummy. Takai, meanwhile, presented another question to Jiraiya: "So, what's she like?"

"You're a curious bunch, aren't you?" the Toad Sage commented as he rubbed his chin in thought. "What, can I tell you…? Well, for one thing, she's kind of unpleasant. Plus, I guess there's the fact that she's known far and wide as a diehard gambler and all."

"Great," Naruto smiled. "Finding her should be a piece of cake, then, if she's as famous as all that."

"Oh, she's famous, alright," the old pervert chuckled. "You might even call her 'legendary'."

"Legendary?" the troublemaking ninja asked, eyebrow rose up in curiosity. "As in 'legendary sannin'?"

"You can also call her that, but she goes under a different nickname." Jiraiya smirked widely. "'The Legendary Sucker!'"

The cat-boy's eyebrow remained raised. _That doesn't sound like a good nickname to me, _he thought.

The Toad Sage crossed his arms, a nostalgic expression crossing his face. "But as legendary a sucker as she may be," he continued, "I doubt she's gonna be all that easy to find."

"How come?" the fiery female asked.

"She's not the type to grow old gracefully, probably using some kind of Jutsu to mask her appearance. She's actually fifty years old, but I'm sure she's gonna look like she did in her twenties. And that's not all – the word on the wind I hear of late is she's starting transforming on the fly, going from her teens to her thirties to her forties, all so that she can cut out on any moneylender she's in too deep with."

Naruto shook his head in disgust. "That's awful," he stated. "Aw man, she sounds like a charmer."

The old pervert chuckled again. "Yeah, well, Tsunade's always loved gambling more than anything else. It's just too bad she's never had any luck. Or skill, for that matter." He stopped walking, making the others stop as well. "She was made a sucker so many times, the name just stuck with her. But then she'll just borrow money and skip out on her debts. Ah, it brings me back, I tell ya."

"Hey, we don't have time for nostalgia!" Naruto complained. "Come on – do you have a plan for finding her or what?"

Jiraiya turned to look at the orange-clad boy. "Not exactly," he admitted. "We might have a little work ahead of us, but I'm sure we'll come up with something."

Naruto groaned. "You don't even have an idea of how long this is gonna take, do you?"

"Not a minute will be wasted!" the Toad Sage declared. "All our time on the road will be devoted solely to _you_!" He gave Naruto an encouraging smirk. "We've gotta get you stronger. Time to train!"

Naruto smiled giddily, like a little kid who had just gotten a lollipop. He took off his backpack and, much to Jiraiya's chagrin, pulled out the green jumpsuit. "Okay!" he cheered as he matched the sleeves and legs of Guy's gift with his limbs.

"Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait!" the Toad Sage protested desperately. "Hold on a second! Look, I've already told you, I'm not having that! I don't want to be seen walking around with someone wearing that-that-that-that _thing_!"

* * *

><p>After a few more hours of walking, our traveling group was now approaching a large chasm with railing lining across the edges. Naruto was still wearing his trademark orange jumpsuit, much to Jiraiya's pleasure. "C'mon, Pervy Sage! What're we waiting for?!" the orange-clad boy pleaded, eager to get his training started as soon as possible.<p>

"Alright, don't get ahead of yourself now…" the Toad Sage calmly replied. "I have to train you while we gather information on Tsunade, otherwise it's not going to mean anything to you."

"Gather information? Where?" Torabu asked.

"In _this _town."

Upon reaching the railing, the group saw that there was a huge town down in the chasm. When they climbed down the nearby stairs and entered the place, they saw that a festival was going on. People were walking around in kimonos, little children were running around wearing masks, and stands spread around were selling food and holding carnival games like crazy.

Naruto and Torabu, having never been to a place this big, were amazed, looking around in awe, mouths agape. "Downtime is important, so have a little fun before we get down to business," Jiraiya said.

"Alright!" Naruto cheered as he pulled out of his backpack a wallet in the shape of a green frog. From how it appeared, it was stuffed with cash.

"Oh baby! That's one fat frog you've got there!" the Toad Sage exclaimed happily. "You're filthy rich!"

"Yeah, I've got a pretty big stash!" Naruto agreed, rubbing his cheek against the wallet affectionately. "I've been saving up bit by bit from my missions."

The orange-clad boy was about to leave, but then the old pervert stopped him. "I'm going to hold on to your wallet for you," he stated, snatching the frog-shaped wallet out of Naruto's hands.

Naruto, of course, was angered and tried to get his money back, until Jiraiya gave back a small amount for him to spend. "WHAAAAT?! Only _three hundred_?!" he complained.

"I don't wanna hear it!" the Toad Sage shot back. "Honoring the three prohibitions is the duty of any upstanding ninja!"

Slightly calmed, Naruto asked, "What do you mean, 'three prohibitions'?"

"You're kidding! Don't you know? The three prohibitions are a trio of temptations that will bring a ninja to his ruin! Those three prohibitions are… alcohol, pretty women, and worst of all: money."

Naruto was not convinced. "Yeah, well, none of those things apply to me all that much, so we're cool," he countered. "I mean, I'm underage, so I can't drink yet, I don't really get the whole women thing, and I worked so hard earning all that money that I don't feel like spending a ton of it."

"You little fool!" Jiraiya shouted. "Don't take money lightly! Once you start spending, you'll never stop! Money possesses a frightful power. This woman – Tsunade – that we're searching for has ruined herself with the pursuit of it."

"Pretty big talk, coming from someone so addicted to the ladies," Naruto shot back.

But the Toad Sage would not budge. "I'm gonna go see if I can gather some information," he said, giving his backpack to the orange-clad boy. "If you happen to get lost somehow, you can always find me by relying on my tracker toad."

Naruto then walked away from the group, tired of arguing with the old pervert. Torabu and Takai also went in their own directions, planning on having some fun as well. Meanwhile, inside the cat-boy's backpack, Fukigen was relaxing and slowly dosing off. _I might as well let the kid have fun before our training starts, _he mentally shrugged before he lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>Hours later, Naruto had spent his entire limited amount of cash. Most of it had been spent on food, while the rest of it was used on playing a few games. He was now walking along the streets, slowly chewing away on the thing he had used the very last of his money on – a pair of fried squids on a stick.<p>

He grumbled to himself. During his spree, he had found Jiraiya's checkbook in the bag that the old pervert had given him. One quick look at the pages was enough to tell him that the Toad Sage and poverty were like two magnets with the same polarity – completely unable to attract.

"Geez, he should be treating me if he is _this _loaded!" he complained. "For crying out loud…! Cheap old geezer!"

A sudden familiar laugh attracted his attention and led him inside a small building. Inside, he saw Jiraiya sitting in a couch, a cup of sake in his hand and a pair of pretty women sitting next to him. In front of him was a small table, upon which laid a very flat and very empty frog-shaped wallet.

Naturally, Naruto exploded.

"I need a refresher!" he shouted right in the old pervert's face. "What were those prohibitions of yours, again?! What's the matter with you?! You're breaking all three of them in one go, you old goat!"

As the two females fled from the soon-to-be violent scene, Jiraiya tried to defend himself. "Uh… wait, Naruto!" he called in vain.

"Wait, schmait!" the orange-clad boy roared as he pummeled down on the Toad Sage's head with both fists. "I can't believe you squandered all my hard-earned savings! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Look at my froggie! It's flat like a pancake!"

As this continued, two men entered the building. Unbeknownst to Naruto, one of his fried squids slipped out of his hand and collided with the white suit that one of the men were wearing. "Watch it!" the other man shouted in anger, gaining the two ninjas' attention. "Look what you did, you little punk! You stained the boss's brand-new designer suit, you street rat! You're paying for that – a 100,000 large!"

Naruto paled. "You're telling me that suit costs a hundred thousand?!" he gasped.

"That seems a little bit of a stretch, fellas," Jiraiya stated calmly. "You expect us to believe that monkey suit is worth a hundred thousand?"

"Looking for trouble, old man?" the man in the stained suit asked. "Shut your yap if you know what's good for you."

"The boss used to be a chunin from the hidden stone village," the other man informed. "He's the legendary dark ninja, feared across the land!"

The Toad Sage crossed his arms and smiled arrogantly. "This, I've gotta hear," he said jovially. "The legendary what, now?"

The former chunin was angered by the mocking question. "You're asking for it, pal! Just keep pushing!" he warned.

Jiraiya stood up and took a few steps forward. "Naruto, I think this is a good time," he said as he held out his right hand. "I've got a new Jutsu I wanna show. Now, pay attention."

As the man in the white suit tried to attack, the Toad Sage created a sphere of blue chakra in his right hand. He pressed it against the man's chest, sending him flying backwards while spinning rapidly, into the other man, out of the building, and into a balloon stand, destroying it.

"That was awesome!" Naruto cheered, instantly forgiving Jiraiya for his misdeed.

The old pervert smirked as he and the orange-clad boy walked over to the broken stand. "And I was even holding back," he stated. "You guys are hardly worth the trouble."

The man in the white suit, struggling to remain conscious, took a proper look at the old man who just wiped the floor with him. "Wait a minute… you're… the legendary…"

Jiraiya looked at the stand's owner. "I'm sorry about that," he kindly apologized. "I guess we kind of messed up your stand."

The man in the white suit pulled his wallet out of his pocket and held it out for the Toad Sage to take it. "H-Here…" he stuttered. "This should cover it…"

"Thanks a lot," the old pervert smiled as he took the offered wallet, leaving the man to fall unconscious. He took out a load of bills and gave them to the stand's owner. "Now then, my good man, I'd like to buy every balloon you've got, including water balloons. How does that sound?"

"Fine by me, I guess," the owner shrugged.

Jiraiya then turned to look at the orange-clad boy and smirked. "Naruto," he started, "let's get going. Time for you to train."

* * *

><p>dopliss: You know, about those three prohibitions… I think all three of the sannin are breaking them.<p>

Mizuki: It makes sense with Tsunade and Jiraiya… but I seriously don't think Orochimaru's drunk.

dopliss: He's kind of drunk on power. Does that count?


	62. Chapter 62 Pop goes the water balloon

**dopliss: Hey, guys! I'm back! Now that my birthday is over and I've gotten a lot of awesome gifts, it's time to get back to writing!**

**Mizuki: You'd better. After last time, you better get busy!**

**dopliss: (grumbling) Slave driver.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. The same goes with any other anime.**

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><p>Naruto and Jiraiya had walked off to the forest just outside of the town, the latter with a bag of balloons in his left hand and the former very excited. "Alright!" the boy cheered. "It's finally time to get down to business!"<p>

The old pervert placed the bag on the ground and grabbed hold on one of the squishy spheres. "Here you go. Have a water balloon," he said and tossed a red water balloon to the orange-clad boy.

Naruto looked at the water-filled plastic object in his hands, eyebrows raised. "What the heck is this for?" he asked.

"Just think about it. You saw the Jutsu I performed, right? How would you describe it?"

Naruto thought back to how Jiraiya sent the man in the expensive suit and his cohort flying out the building. "You sent that guy spinning like a pinwheel," he remembered.

The Toad Sage sighed. _He's not quite getting it, _he thought and picked up another water balloon. Suddenly, without moving his hand to shake it, the water inside the small sphere began spinning and fighting against the walls of the balloon. "Right. Spinning. Like this, right?" he said sarcastically.

As the boy watched with interest, he was surprised when the balloon suddenly popped, the water spreading out on the old man's hand. "Whoa…"

"With the tree climbing exercise, you learned how to gather and maintain chakra," Jiraiya stated. "With the water walking exercise, you learned to release a steady amount of it. Both of these, you've mastered, correct?" He did not wait for an answer. "With the water balloon exercise, you'll learn to make a stream of chakra – 'spinning' it, as you put it."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "So I'm supposed to create a stream of chakra?" he guessed.

The Toad Sage gave a small smile. "Don't worry – I'll go into more detail on how the Jutsu works once you've gotten a handle of the basics," he said reassuringly, wiping his hand dry with a handkerchief. "First, gather the chakra in your hand by using the tree climbing technique, then use the water walking technique to release a steady stream of it – and finally, use the chakra to push and churn the water inside of the balloon."

"Oh! I get it!" Naruto said with a grin on his lips. "So what you're aiming for is to spin the water inside the balloon until it eventually pops."

"Atta boy!" the old pervert praised. "You're starting to catch on quicker. Okay, we'll train till the sun goes down."

A few minutes later, Naruto was staring down at the water balloon in his right hand, smirking widely as he saw the swirling that indicated the water was spinning. "Any second now…!" he said in excitement. "This is gonna be even easier than I thought!"

"Okay. Let me know when you've done it," Jiraiya said, slumping down against a tree. "Meanwhile, I'll just get comfortable." He smiled and pulled out a yellow flask from his cloak. "It's time for a little break."

The boy saw this and got suspicious. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"I might as well get a little shuteye while I'm waiting," the old man said and unplugged the flask. "This stuff helps me sleep." He then took a big swig.

Naruto gave a confident smirk. "Don't get comfortable. This won't take long."

"Yeah, yeah, okay…" the Toad Sage waved off. "You just let me know when you've figured it out."

"You wait and see!" The boy returned his gaze to the water balloon. "I'll have this thing down before you even close your eyes, you lazy old buzzard!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in a clearing in another part of the forest, Torabu, Takai and Fukigen were sitting on the ground, the humans looking intently at the Bakeneko. "Okay, you two," the cat said, "it's time for some tough, intense training."<p>

The cat-boy scoffed and leaned backwards, hands on the back of his head. "How 'tough and intense' can this training be?" he asked, skeptical. "Naruto's probably off somewhere learning that super strong Jutsu he's been pleading to learn from the old man. To be honest, I think our training is child's play compared to his."

"I'm also curious about this training of ours," the fiery female stated. "What have you planned for us?"

The cat stomped his stick into the ground. "I'm gonna teach you how to fight multiple enemies at once," he answered.

Torabu gave a bored look. "You're sounding like an old record," he replied. "You already taught me how to by teaching me the Double-Edged Counter Jutsu."

Takai perked up. "Oh! Are you gonna teach _me _how to do that?" she asked, expecting a positive response.

The tomcat shook his head. "Even if I wanted to, your chakra reserves are not enough to keep the Jutsu active for even ten seconds."

The fiery female cast a glance over to the cat-boy. _He was able to keep it going for about a few minutes, and he didn't look any tired afterwards, _she remembered. _I wonder… how much chakra does this kid have?_

"And, Torabu," Fukigen continued. "Even that Jutsu isn't enough to handle multiple enemies at once. All that it would take is a handful of ninjas, and then you'd be beaten to a pulp if you relied on that Jutsu alone."

Torabu frowned and crossed his arms. "I don't rely on that Jutsu – you know that," he countered.

The Bakeneko groaned. "It doesn't matter. What you have to do right now is fighting multiple enemies at once."

The troublemaking ninja sat up straight and shrugged. "Hate to be the bringer of bad news for you, but this won't work," he stated. "I mean, where do you plan on getting several people to fight us, let alone someone who can be a bit of a challenge?"

"I have to agree with that," Takai concurred. "And even if you made Shadow Clones, or any kind of clones, all it would take is one hit before they vanish."

Fukigen was silent for a few seconds, then he slowly began to chuckle in a dangerous way. "You two…" he said. "You underestimate my power."

The cat pressed his paws together, hummed in concentration, and then the ground slowly began to shake. As the seconds passed, the shaking became more and more violent. And then, in a sudden motion, like lightning from a clear sky, he pressed both paws against the ground, stopping the shaking. After a bit of silence, a soft rumbling could be heard. And then, without warning, a skeletal hand rose out of the ground!

"Whoa!" Torabu gasped in shock as he scrambled to his feet.

Takai did the same, and her eyes widened when she saw the hand rising, revealing an arm with rotten flesh. "W-What's going on?!" she asked, struggling to keep herself calm.

As this supernatural phenomena continued, the limb continued to rise from the earth, until a full, rotten corpse had emerged. Following that was another hand… and another… and another… until there was an entire army of animated corpses.

Fukigen smirked and jumped up on a tree branch. "Here you have your current practice dummies," he explained.

The cat-boy looked up at the feline sensei, eyes wide. "_How _did you do this?!" he demanded. "There's not even any graveyard near us!"

"That must be quite the Summoning Jutsu!" Takai said in awe. "Not only did he summon this many – and placed them underground, no less – but he also reanimated them!"

"Ha!" the tomcat scoffed. "Bringing them to life was child's play! It is a second nature for us Bakenekos, after all. All I did was summon them underground – which is no big task for me either."

Torabu narrowed his eyes and turned his head to look at the horde of zombies. "So, basically, you want me and Takai to fight against these brain-dead bozos, right?" he assumed.

"Indeed." The cat gave the two humans a serious look. "I'm gonna order them to attack you relentlessly until either all of them are destroyed or you two are too exhausted to fight back. Oh. And one more thing: no Jutsus. You are only allowed to use your physical prowess – no fireballs, clones or anything else that can help you."

The fiery female smirked and glanced at the troublemaking ninja. "What say you, kitty?" she asked slyly. "You think you can handle them?"

The cat-boy smirked back and cracked his knuckles. "All of them and more," he replied.

With a stomp of his stick, Fukigen ordered his minions to attack. He watched the two humans fight back for about two minutes, and then he leaped away.

* * *

><p>The red evening sky gave the forest a yellowish glow. Naruto stood, panting hard from exhaustion and glaring at the intact water balloon in his hand. "This is crazy!" he shouted in frustration. "What do I have to do?!"<p>

Jiraiya, who had been asleep for a while, woke up once he heard the shouting. "Well? Did you do it?" he asked sleepily.

The orange-clad boy slowly turned his head and gave a look that was a mixture of embarrassment and anxiety – a sharp contrast to the old man's bored and unsurprised face. "Uh… well…" Naruto trailed off, wracking his brain for a good apology. "Not quite, but I'm really close! Almost there!"

The old pervert sighed and rubbed the back of his head, a teasing smile on his lips. "I was hoping for maybe forty winks, but that was more like 840," he mocked.

Naruto was annoyed by what the Toad Sage said, but after all of his attempts at popping the water balloon, his desperation drowned his anger. "Come on! How do I do it?! How do I get it to burst?!" he pleaded.

Jiraiya sipped the very last amount of liquid out of his flask and put it away. "Like I said before," he replied, "you won't know how it's done before you've actually done it." After seeing the disappointed look on the boy's face, he continued speaking. "However… in your case, even though ideally you're supposed to master this Jutsu by yourself through trial and error, maybe I'll give you a small hint to point you in the right direction." He stood up. "Alright now – get the water in the balloon spinning again."

"Uh… okay," Naruto said and did as he was told.

The Toad Sage looked closely at the plastic sphere. "To the right or to the left – which direction are you making the water spin?" he asked.

Naruto stopped spinning and thought about the question. "To the left, I guess," he replied.

"Now walk over here to me." The boy did as told and walked up to his mentor. Once close enough, the old pervert placed his hand on Naruto's yellow hair-covered head. After a few seconds, he smirked and said, "I thought as much. The problem is, you're actually a right rotation-type."

The orange-clad boy raised an eyebrow. "A what?" he asked.

"The short answer: your chakra is working against itself. You see, a good way to build up chakra in your body is to spin it in a tight spiral, like a spring. Whether the chakra spins to the left or to the right is up to the individual; some people are left rotation-types, some are right. But if you're spinning the water in the balloon in the opposite direction from your natural rotation-type, your chakra is counteracting itself. No wonder you're having trouble."

Jiraiya shook his head. "It's something most ninjas in training eventually find out for themselves, but in your case…"

"Okay, I see," Naruto nodded. "But how can you tell which rotation-type I am?"

The old man patted him on the head. "By the way your hair grows," he answered. "If your hair grows to the right, then that means you're a right rotation-type; if your hair grows to the left, you're a lefty. It's pretty simple, really."

The boy nodded in understanding again and scratched the back of his head. "If I had ever combed my hair, I might have noticed that," he muttered.

"So, to help you, I suggest rotating the water to the right."

Naruto thought about the helpful advice and apparent rule of rotation. "Man, I never thought my hair even rotated; forget about which way."

"This technique is perfect for you, Naruto; all it requires is chakra – no complicated hand-seals to be mastered." The Toad Sage's smirk turned teasing and he poked the orange-clad boy in the forehead. "With a little effort, even a slow learner can get this one. I know that you can do it."

Unlike earlier, Naruto did not let this insult slide. "Hey! Who're you calling a slow learner?!" he shouted. "Are you forgetting who I am?! I'm the guy who's gonna be _Hokage_ someday! I'll bet that in three days, I'll have this Jutsu mastered! You won't be smiling then!"

Jiraiya found what the boy said very amusing. "Three days?" he asked. "This technique was handed down to us by none other than the Fourth Hokage." Naruto's facial expression became one of curiosity. "And do you know how long it took him to make it? Three _years_. In terms of difficulty, this one is the second hardest of them all; it's one of the Master-rank Ninjutsu. To learn this move, you have to master three phases of training, and bursting the water balloon is only the first of them."

Naruto looked down at the balloon in amazement and thought. _It took the Fourth Hokage three years… and he was the best of them all._

"And you, who haven't even finished the first phase," Jiraiya continued, "you're gonna master this Jutsu in three days, huh? Yeah, right. Knock yourself out, kid." He turned away from the boy and took a few steps. "Meanwhile, if it's all the same to you, I'll go back to town. I've been neglecting my research." He turned his head to look back. "It's getting late. You coming along?"

The orange-clad boy kept staring at the plastic sphere, still comprehending all that he had just heard. He then gave a smile in the old pervert's direction and replied, "I'll stick around a little longer."

"See you later, then."

* * *

><p>Night fell upon the town as Jiraiya walked along on the streets, wondering how Naruto was doing. His train of thoughts was instantly derailed when he heard a seductive female voice call out to him. Turning his head in the direction of the sound, he was greeted with the sight of two young, beautiful, scantily-clad ladies. "Are you the guy we've heard about? The one doing research on pretty girls?" one of them asked.<p>

"Yeah!" the old pervert eagerly answered, fully turning to face the chicks. "That's right! You've heard of me?!"

"We'd be glad to help you out with your research," the other woman offered, showing him a card with 35 columns. "Buy us dinner, and we'll stamp your card. When the card's full, we'll tell you _everything_."

The Toad Sage was completely oblivious to the vile women's plan of abusing his money reserves. "Woohoo! Sounds like fun!" he cheered as he followed the ladies. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"Ah-ah – dinner first."

From a bit afar, Fukigen was watching as the legendary sannin fell for such an obvious trap. "Humans are so stupid…" he sighed, shaking his head.

"Meow…"

The Bakeneko's triangular ears perked up at the voice that sounded like music to his ears. He turned around and spotted an alley with a couple of cats. And judging from the smell coming from them, they were in quite a needy situation.

The feline sensei smirked. "Well, when duty calls, I'll respond," he said and leapt off in the felines' direction.

* * *

><p>Four days have passed since Naruto began his training.<p>

Had he gotten past the first phase?

Nope.

He had spent the last three days spinning the water balloon – to the right, this time – and absolutely nothing progressive has happened to him. But that does not mean that nothing happened to him. The morning of the fourth day – the current day – he had felt both numbness and pain in his right hand. Jiraiya had told him that there were no complicated hand-seals involved in the Jutsu, but he had not mentioned the strain that would be put on his hand.

He flushed the toilet and walked out of the bathroom that he was just in, getting greeted by the sight of the innkeeper's cat playing with his water balloon. "Hey, leave that alone," Naruto protested. "It's not a toy."

The feline just ignored him and kept innocently rolling the balloon back and forth. After a few seconds of this, the balloon suddenly popped, scaring the housecat out of its wits. Seeing this, Naruto formulated an idea and went to his and Jiraiya's room to test it out.

Hovering above the Toad Sage's head, the orange-clad boy said, "Rise and shine, Pervy Sage. Come on – drag those old bones out of bed."

The old pervert yawned and did not even bother to open his eyes. "Since you're here, bring me some water, would ya?" he requested.

Naruto smirked at the irony in his words, took a water balloon, held it above the old man's head… and made it pop. Jiraiya made a startled sound upon getting splashed with water, which amused the boy. "So, that's the first phase of training cleared," the orange-clad boy said proudly. "What's next?"

The old pervert sat up, turned around to look at the boy, and wiped his face with a cloth. "So you did it, huh?" he asked tiredly. "Care to show me a demonstration?"

"Watch carefully!" Naruto said dramatically as he held up another water balloon in his left hand. "Keep your eyes on the balloon."

Then, concentrating his chakra, Naruto did not made the water spin with his left hand, but instead spun the chakra in his right. He then moved his right hand in quick motions to one place near the balloon, then away and over to another place. These quick and rapid movements caused the water to spin like crazy. And then, once he had done enough, he placed his right hand on top of the balloon, watching as it tore apart from the pressure.

"There you go, old man!" Naruto exclaimed. "What do you think of that, huh?!"

He saw that Jiraiya had fallen asleep.

Naruto flipped.

* * *

><p>"Sorry about that," Jiraiya apologized as he ate his breakfast. "I've just been working day and night – you know, doing research."<p>

Naruto did not believe him one bit. '_Research', huh? Is that what he calls it?_

The Toad Sage took a sip of his tea and smiled. _I've gotta hand it to him, _he thought. _He actually managed to do it by steadying it with his left hand while applying chakra with his right. It's a weird idea, but hey, he's a weird kid. And 'weird' isn't necessarily bad. _He gave a soft chuckle. "Looks like you did it. Good for you," he praised. "I guess my little advice helped you out, after all."

Naruto saw the innkeeper's cat near his legs and picked it up. "Actually, I've really got him to thank," he replied. "I was watching this guy play around with my balloon, and I got a brilliant idea. See, he kept knocking it back and forth, which meant the water inside must be going back and forth, too, but in different directions. That's when it came to me."

"And what would that be, exactly?" the old pervert inquired.

"I thought back to what you were doing when you showed me what to do the first time. I remembered how bumpy the surface of the balloon got, like it was boiling. My problem was, I was making the water rotate, but only in _one _direction. That's why the surface of my balloon was smooth, not bumpy like yours; if it was gonna burst, I was going to make it spin in a whole bunch of directions, making it bump into itself. So, once I finally figured that part out, the rest of it was easy."

Jiraiya shook his head, but not in a negative way. _Well, he may not be able to do it with one hand, but it's a start, _he thought. "Okay, then," he said. "You have successfully passed the first step."

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto cheered loudly, scaring the cat and making it run away. "Hey, wanna see me do it again?"

The Toad Sage then frowned when he saw the orange-clad boy wince in pain, worried. _He's used up a lot of chakra, _he thought. _Can his chakra network stand the strain? And it only gets harder from here…_

* * *

><p>dopliss: There you go, guys. There wasn't much focus on Torabu and Takai, but that's what next chapter is for.<p>

Mizuki: It better be. I wanna see some ninja vs. zombie action.

dopliss: Who wouldn't?


	63. Chapter 63 Undead battle royale

**dopliss: Don't you just hate when your throat hurts? Mine's been like that for the last three days. I can't swallow, drink or speak without feeling pain.**

**Mizuki: Anyway, happy Halloween, guys! I hope none of you were caught by the Slenderman.**

**dopliss: Nah, I'm sure they weren't. After all, I stayed at home all night.**

**Mizuki: (scared) …What?**

**dopliss: Except for that one woman who I used my magical powers on to make sure that she can't die, and then I threw her in a meat grinder.**

**Mizuki: (gasps) That's horrible!**

**dopliss: (laughs) Aw, don't worry; she was one of the Redstockings.**

**Disclaimer: Now November, and no ownership of Naruto.**

* * *

><p>Naruto and Jiraiya had returned to the forest, the former with a big grin on his face, which was a stark contrast to the latter's tired expression. The Toad Sage sighed and asked, "Alright then… you ready to proceed to the next stage?"<p>

"YEAH!" the orange-clad boy answered excitedly. "Enough with the kid stuff! What's the next step – weapons?"

"Here you go." Jiraiya tossed another spherical object to the boy.

"A rubber ball?" Naruto asked as he gave the ball in his hand a squeeze. He then gave a glare in the old pervert's direction. "Oh, come on. You're kidding, right?"

The Toad Sage held up another rubber ball in his right hand. "Let's see if you can pop this one," he said and effortlessly used his chakra to make the object burst. "And let me tell you, it's a lot harder than a water balloon."

Naruto steadied the ball in his left hand and moved his right in rapid motions to make the air inside spin. But when he placed his right hand on top of it, unlike the water balloon, it did not burst. _This _is_ hard… _he thought, teeth clenched.

"The first element is rotation. The second element is force," Jiraiya explained. "The biggest change is that this object is solid. With no water inside, it's far more difficult to exert your chakra rotation on it."

"Yeah, I can see that," Naruto nodded, looking down at the sphere. _I'll have to come up with something new for this one._

"I'll leave it to you to figure out." The old pervert smiled widely and closed his eyes. "And in the meanwhile, I'd better get back to my research." He turned around and started to walk away.

"Hey, Pervy Sage!" the boy called. "Don't go away again! C'mon – stay and help me with my training! Don't leave me out here by myself!"

Jiraiya stopped walking. "Stop whining!" he snapped. "There's one part of this process you don't seem to understand." He turned his head to glare over his shoulder. "I said I'd be your teacher, not your father or your best friend – I'm not here to hold your hand. You have to do this by yourself or not at all. Stop being a child and learn how to stand on your own two feet, like a ninja."

Naruto was surprised over the scolding lecture that he had just received, but then gave a sheepish smile. "Uh… alright then, I will," he replied. "But I was just hoping that before you go… can you show it to me one more time?"

The old man turned around and held out his right hand, palm facing the sky. "Pay me," he demanded.

The orange-clad boy was silent for a few seconds, but then he exploded, his face red with rage. "Get out of here, you greedy, old skirt-chaser!" he roared, giving the old pervert the finger. "You're the one talking about growing up and acting like a ninja; why don't _you_ act like a ninja instead of a pervy, old bag of bones?!"

* * *

><p>It was late in the afternoon, and Torabu and Takai were sitting on the ground, panting hard in exhaustion and sore from fighting so many reanimated corpses. "So…" the latter said, looking at the former, "you think… we've gotten any better?"<p>

The cat-boy looked back. "After four days… of fighting zombies only to eventually… get our asses kicked? Hardly," he replied. He then flopped down onto his back. "That damn cat… He knew we'd have a hard time with this."

The fiery female lay down, as well. "And he's been like that ever since you first started training under him?" she asked.

The troublemaking ninja scratched his left ear in thought. "Well…" he answered, "I'd say he was a little nicer back then."

"Are you two already done training? And you call yourselves great ninjas…"

Upon hearing the new voice, the two of them sat up and were greeted by the sight of Fukigen, who was smoking a cigarette. "If I wasn't such a kind and gentle soul, you'd be training until the skin on your hands tear off," he continued.

"Speak for yourself," Torabu spat. "You keep making us practice our Taijutsu, but what have _you _done throughout this journey? I haven't seen you train or spar or do _anything_ this whole time."

The Bakeneko gave a smirk. "Oh, believe me… I _have_ been exercising," he countered, quirking his eyebrow slyly.

"What's _that _supposed to mean?"

The feline sensei crossed his forelegs in a paternal fashion. "You're too young to hear," he replied.

The cat-boy scowled and crossed his arms in annoyance. "I'm a teenager," he argued.

"Correction: _pre_teen. Ergo, you're not old enough."

Takai, annoyed by the argument, clapped her hands to draw attention. "Not to interrupt your bickering about age," she said, standing up, "but I just want to tell you that I need to use the bathroom." She then walked towards some bushes. "I'll be back soon."

Once the fiery female was out of earshot, Torabu asked Fukigen, "How _does _she undress from that thing?"

"It must be difficult," the cat replied with a shrug. "I believe it's harder for her to get out than it is for Guy or Lee."

"I agree," the cat-boy nodded. "I mean, their bodysuits must have a zipper down front – not that I've seen any – and they don't look to be as tight as Takai's."

The Bakeneko's smirk grew wider. "Oh, so you've been keeping a close eye on her outfit, no?" he asked.

The troublemaking ninja's cheeks went crimson, his eyes widening. "What?! No! No-no-no-no-no!" he panicked, waving his arms up and down rapidly. "I don't like her _that _way! I've just been… noticing details – that's all!"

Before the feline sensei could deliver a snappy remark to further embarrass the cat-boy, the two of them heard a scream. And moments later, they saw Takai come running out of the bushes, scared out of her wits and with the zipper in the back of her bodysuit completely open. She cowered behind the troublemaking ninja and screamed, "Help! Monster!"

The two males turned to look back at the bushes and saw what had startled the fiery female: an innocent mongoose. Torabu let out a laugh. "You're terrified of a cute little mongoose?" he asked.

"Those _things _are neither cute nor little!" she replied, closing her eyes and shaking.

"I – and everyone else, for that matter – beg to differ," the cat-boy said as he goaded the mammal closer with his fingers.

"Well, you're all wrong!" Takai wrapped her arms tightly around the troublemaking ninja. "Mongooses are disgusting, snake-eating freaks of nature!"

Fukigen frowned at that description, mostly because he shared the mongooses' feeding habits. _I swear, if I wasn't so calm and in control of my temper…_ he mentally cursed.

Takai slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the mongoose, close enough to lick her nose. She let out another scream and quickly crawled backwards to get as far away as possible. Meanwhile, Torabu let go of the mammal and laughed loudly, rolling on the ground and clutching his stomach.

"It's not funny!" the fiery female scolded, cheeks aflame.

* * *

><p>A couple of days later, at night, Torabu and Takai were sitting around a bonfire, watching as the flames danced. "So…" the former of the two trailed off.<p>

"Yeah?" the fiery female asked.

"I'd never really quite get why you switched sides."

She looked deep into the flames. "Do you remember what I told you about my relationship with my deceased father?" she asked.

The cat-boy nodded. "He hated you, you hated him, he threw you out of your home, and you returned years later and killed him."

"Yes." She shook her head. "I learned by listening to your nightmares that you had the opposite relationship with your parents. And… I felt really bad for mercilessly beating you up and making you go into a coma."

He looked down at the ground. "I see."

She looked at him. "Don't you ever miss them?" she asked.

He leaned backwards, hands on the back of his head. "I usually don't think about it. I mean, I was only two when I lost them – I don't remember all the way back to when I was born."

She raised an eyebrow. "How come you know about that they're dead?"

"The cat is a tattletale."

She knew who he was referring to. "Fukigen told you?"

The cat-boy nodded. "I was five years old when he first appeared before me," he told. "He told me that the reason that I live alone was because my parents are dead, and that he was there to train me into becoming a great ninja."

She looked back at the flames, which were slowly dying out. "Didn't you cry when you heard that the first time?" she asked.

"Of course I did. Who wouldn't cry when someone hears that his or her parents are dead? It took me days before I stopped crying."

She looked back at him. "Torabu?"

"Yeah?"

"Did Fukigen ever tell you why he decided to train you?"

He shook his head. "He never did. All he said when I asked him why was that my parents would probably want me to become great and make something out of my life." As he looked up at the night sky, he looked back at his past.

* * *

><p><em>A seven-year-old Torabu looked at a tree, eyes narrowed. He suddenly ran towards it and attempted to run up along it, but he only managed to take five steps before he fell down onto his butt. From up on a branch, Fukigen looked down at the boy with a stern look.<em>

"_You're using too little chakra, boy!" he barked. "If you ever want to climb this tree with only your feet, then you need to put more effort in!"_

"_Shut up, you pest!" the cat-boy shouted back, standing up. "I never wanted to learn this! I wanted to be taught along with my friends!"_

"_What friends, Torabu?" the cat asked, striking a nerve in the troublemaking ninja. "I ask you, what friends? Until I showed up, you were all alone and miserable. Face it – the closest you have to a 'friend' is me."_

"_Shut up…" the boy protested weakly, fighting back tears. "I don't have any parents, I live all alone, and I look like a freak." He looked down at the ground. "Don't you think I'm miserable enough without you telling me the cold, hard truth? And… you call yourself 'the closest I have to a friend'? All you do is showing me something I can't do in a million years and then yell at me for not being able to do it."_

_He glared back up at the feline sensei, eyebrows furrowed and tears shining in his eyes. "Do you think that sounds like something a friend would do?! Do you think that I respect you for shouting at me and scolding me?! Do you honestly think that?! Huh?! Do you?!"_

_He sniffed and looked back down at the ground, wiping his eyes with the back of his right hand. "I wish… My biggest wish in the whole world is for… a real friend."_

_The Bakeneko was silent for a whole minute, just looking at the crying boy. He then jumped down to him and looked levelly at him. "Channel your chakra again," he commanded._

_Torabu looked at his teacher. "W-What…?"_

"_Channel your chakra again. Give the tree-climbing exercise one last go." After a moment of silence, the cat-boy closed his eyes and made a hand-seal, channeling his chakra into his feet. Fukigen then placed a paw on the boy's leg and 'saw' the amount of chakra in his feet. "Give it a little more," he told._

"_But, you said too much chakra would be no good," Torabu responded._

"_Just slowly add more until I say stop." The cat witnessed as more chakra surged to the troublemaking ninja's feet. "Okay, that's enough." He removed his paw from the leg. "Now, try to walk up the tree again."_

_Torabu – unwilling at first at the risk of humiliation – slowly placed one foot on the trunk and then the other. He did not fall off. Surprised, he slowly began walking up the tree. As he got higher and higher up, he started to laugh, until he reached the tallest of the branches and let out a cheerful cry. "I did it! I did it! I finally did it!" he rejoiced happily._

_Fukigen, looking up from the ground, gave a satisfied smile._

* * *

><p>Near midday, the next day, Torabu and Takai were fighting off the corpse army again. They both had taken some pretty nasty hits, but they were halfway through eliminating all of them.<p>

Torabu blocked a punch and retaliated with one of his own, followed by grabbing the zombie's arm and swinging it around, knocking seven other reanimated corpses back. He threw the enemy away and landed a kick on another, knocking its head off. Following that, he slid under another moving obstacle, grabbed it by the ankles, and used it as a hammer against the other enemies.

Takai, meanwhile, blocked a combo of punches and kicks from several zombies, luring them and others closer to her. Once they were close enough, she dished out a spin-kick that decapitated the circle of corpses, finishing them off. She then saw two enemies sneak up behind her, fists reeled back. She jumped up into the air, did a backwards summersault, landed on the two's shoulders, tore their heads off, and kicked them into two other zombies, killing four birds with two stones.

"Torabu!" the fiery female shouted, ducking under a high kick from another zombie. "What do you say we take the rest of them out with a combined attack?!"

The cat-boy leapt over another attack and retaliated by knocking the zombie down with his makeshift mallet. "Whaddya have in mind?!" he replied.

"Get over here and see for yourself!"

The troublemaking ninja sprang over to his sparring partner. Takai then grabbed Torabu's ankles and began spinning him around. With the combination of Takai's quick spinning and the corpse in Torabu's hands, the attack both had a long range and power enough to knock the block off the zombies' shoulders.

This went on until there were only three moving targets left. Torabu took care of one of them by throwing the corpse in his hands at it, finishing it off. Takai then let go of the cat-boy, sending him flying towards one of the last two zombies, and she then backflipped over to the last one. The troublemaking ninja rolled around rapidly and finished the enemy off with a strong kick to the face. The fiery female, meanwhile, landed on her hands right in front of the last zombie, planted her foot on its chin, pushed herself and her enemy off the ground, spun around in the air, and stomped down on its head, crushing it.

Now done with their opponents, the two of them lowered their guard and panted heavily. They then slowly turned their heads to look at each other, smirked, and then let out cheerful cries of victory. "We ANNIHILATED them!" Torabu roared, raising a fist into the air.

"Ah… I _love _the sweet, sweet taste of victory!" Takai grinned.

The cat-boy crossed his arms in confidence. "And you owe that taste all to me!"

The fiery female snorted. "In your dreams, kitty. _I _took out most of them."

"Nah-uh! _I _beat the crap out of most of them!"

Fukigen jumped down from the tree branch that he was perched on and cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself. "Whatever the case, you two did it," he stated. "Congratulations. You have successfully cleared my test."

The two humans looked back at each other, gave wide smiles, and then they gave each other a 'thumbs up'.

* * *

><p>dopliss: Another short chapter for you guys, but there was a lot of focus on our feline co-protagonist.<p>

Mizuki: And remember, he _sucks _at writing fight scenes.

dopliss: Fuck you.


	64. Chapter 64 Orochimaru returns

**dopliss: Opening greeting.**

**Mizuki: Random joke or insult.**

**dopliss: Punchline!**

**Disclaimer: …Okay, that was weird. Anyway, I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

><p>Torabu stretched his arms and made a few jumps for warm-up. Standing next to him was Takai, and in front of him was Fukigen. "Okay, Mister Necromancer," the cat-boy said cockily, "now that we've beaten the crap out of your puppets, what's our next step in training?"<p>

The Bakeneko furrowed his brow at the boy's attitude. "I'll tell you," he said. "You're gonna learn a new Jutsu."

The troublemaking ninja's eyes widened upon hearing that. "R-Really?!" he asked, a bit too excitedly than he had meant to.

The cat tilted his head. "Well, 'new' as in 'new for you to perform', not 'you have never seen it before'," he admitted.

Torabu rubbed his chin in thought. "One I've seen before, you say…?" he mumbled. His mouth then grew into a smile that stretched from ear to ear. "Oh – is it the Chidori?!"

The feline sensei shook his head.

"Is it how to open the Eight Inner Gates?"

"No."

The cat-boy's smiled slowly faded. "Is it… a Jutsu that the four Hokages knew?" he asked, running out of suggestions.

The cat laughed. "Not on your life, boy," he replied. He then pointed his stick at the fiery female. "It is a Jutsu that _she _knows and can teach you."

"Me?" Takai asked, confused at first, but then she realized what the Bakeneko referred to. "Oh… you mean _that _Jutsu."

Torabu, however, was still confused. "Whaddya mean, 'she knows and can teach you'?" he asked. "I mean, I can spit fireballs and create clones that can explode in a burst of flame – what can she do that I…" It then clicked for him that Takai had another technique in her Jutsu arsenal, and as a result, he pounded his right hand into his left palm. "Oh, now I get it!"

Fukigen nodded. "You're going to learn how to perform the Volcano Blast Jutsu," he confirmed.

* * *

><p>Naruto was lying on his elbows and knees with the rubber ball in front of him. After days of trying to make the sphere pop without success, his arms and hands were in a lot of pain. "Aw, geez… what's the use?" he groaned. "It won't pop no matter how hard I try. I'm just wasting my time, burning up chakra for no reason…" He looked at his hands, the fingers twitching. "And this pain… The more I try to increase the flow, the more it hurts. But I have to. I have to give all I've got, or it will never pop." He closed his eyes in frustration. "But what if all I've got isn't enough?"<p>

That's when a thought occurred to him. He opened his eyes, grabbed the ball with his left hand, and stood up, ready to give it one more go. "That's it!" he said and he sent his chakra surging into his arms. "If I can work through the pain to generate my chakra, and then push it right to the limit of what I can endure…" He sent more and more chakra into his arms, clenching his teeth closed to ignore the pain. Once he had build up enough, he began moving his right hand in quick motions around the ball, making its surface bumpy from the air pushing against it. "Yeah! I've got it! I've got it!"

But what happened to the ball was anticlimactic. Instead of bursting into many pieces, it sprung a leak and deflated. Naruto, however, was satisfied with the result, letting out a short giggle at the sight of progress.

"Well, well… we seem to have made progress," Jiraiya's voice said from behind him.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, turning around to face the old pervert, "but I only made it spring a leak, not burst, like you did."

The Toad Sage walked up to the boy, hands behind his back. "Boy – you're getting awfully picky all of a sudden," he said, revealing that he was holding a Popsicle in both hands. "You want one?"

The orange-clad boy took one of the frosty treats and began chewing on it. "Ish delishious," he said with his mouth full.

* * *

><p>In his secret hideout, Orochimaru, who was sitting up in a bed with his boneless arms lying in front of him, gave a bloodcurdling scream of pain. "My arms!" he hissed angrily.<p>

"Lord Orochimaru!" one of his followers gasped, running up to the bedside. "Are you okay?! Quick – your medicine!"

Enraged over his pain and handicap, he violently swung one arm to slice his follower's throat open! The last thing that the poor and unfortunate guy did before he dropped dead on the floor was letting out a surprised gurgle and staining the bedcovers with his blood. Orochimaru then calmed down, wheezing and groaning.

Then, the door opened and Kabuto entered the room. "I just got back, and now I have to clean the room…" he sighed, taking the follower's death incredibly lightly. "Please be sure to take your medicine, will you?"

"That medicine will do nothing for me, you simpleton…!" the snake-man growled.

Kabuto readjusted his glasses and walked closer to his boss. "But I made it specifically for you. It should ease your pain – at least a little."

"This burning in my arms… I never imagined a suffering would be this great!"

"I've gotta admit, I didn't expect a simple genin to do something like that to you."

Orochimaru lifted his head and sent a venomous glare in his doctor's direction. "Enough of your prattling," he hissed. "Tell me, have you found the one I seek?"

Kabuto gave a nod. "The trail led to a place called 'Tanzoku Town'."

The snake-man's mouth curled up in a slight smirk. "I see…"

The double agent gave his boss a serious look. "Lest you forget, your opponent is one of the legendary sannin. This isn't going to be easy."

Orochimaru gave a dark chuckle. "The best medicines are always bitter."

* * *

><p>After having finished their frozen treats, Jiraiya had drawn a small circle in the middle of Naruto's right palm. The latter was, understandably, confused. "I don't get it," he stated.<p>

The old man reached into his cloak. "You're the kind of kid who got yelled at in school for a lack of concentration, aren't you?" he asked.

That sentence did not clear the boy's confusion one bit. "What's that have to do with anything?" he replied.

The Toad Sage pulled out a scrap of paper. "Look at this," he told.

After ten seconds, Naruto boringly replied, "Seen it."

"Alright then." Jiraiya took a pen out and drew on the side of the paper that was facing him. "Now, if you will, give it a second look."

He turned it over so that the orange-clad boy could see a small circle in the middle of the piece of paper. "What am I looking at?" he asked, more confused than before.

"Well, I don't think it's gonna help a whole lot if I explain too much right away," the Toad Sage stated, "but the first time you looked at this paper, your eyes just glanced at the whole thing, am I right?"

"Probably," Naruto shrugged.

"And what about the second time you looked? My guess is, you were focusing on the circle in the middle." At the sight of the boy's surprised expression, the old man decided to explain. "Any time that a person's eyes gaze on a blank sheet of paper, they don't focus where to look – the eyes just wander the page. But if you put even a dot on it, the mind is drawn there. You're then concentrating on a single point, and with that focus comes spiritual stability, letting you tap into unimaginable power."

He crumbled the paper into a ball and threw it away. "When you finally broke open the rubber ball, I'm sure you must have been trying desperately to gather up the chakra you needed in the palm of your hand."

"Yeah, that's right," Naruto agreed.

"When you concentrate, you draw out power – but without some sort of target, concentration can be difficult, hence that mark. Now listen, Naruto – from now on, when you're storing up power in your right hand, make sure that you concentrate only on that mark."

The boy looked down at the mark in his right hand. "Concentrate…" he muttered. He then smirked and clenched his fist. "Alright, I guess I can handle that."

"Now that I've helped you out, I'll go back to town and scrounge up some more information," Jiraiya informed.

Naruto was not in favor of that statement. "But, you only just got here," he complained.

"Sorry, kid, but I don't have any time to waste." And with that said, the old man turned around and began walking away.

The orange-clad boy became peeved by the cold shoulder. "Hey!" he shouted. "That's it?! Not even a soulful little game of catch between a pupil and his master?!" In a fit of anger, he took one of the other rubber balls for practice and hurled it as hard as he could in the old pervert's direction.

Sensing the incoming sphere, Jiraiya turned around and caught the ball… with his teeth. "Strike!" he laughed and spat the ball out. "There you go, kid. Game over." Then he turned around and resumed walking. "See ya around, sport."

Naruto snorted and picked up another ball. "Who needs him?" he grumbled. "I'll just dig in and work this out on my own."

* * *

><p>It was now evening, and Jiraiya was in a tavern, asking people if they've recently seen Tsunade. "Nope. Never laid eyes on her," the latest man he asked replied.<p>

"I see," the old man sighed. "Sorry for troubling you."

"I know who you're talking about," another drinker piped up, causing the Toad Sage to look at him. "And I can tell you where she is right now, too."

The old pervert gave the man a friendly smile. "How about a drink, friend?" he offered.

The drinker looked down at his half-empty glass of gin, a smirk on his lips. "You don't have to, thanks," he replied. "I made out like a bandit not too long ago – thanks to the lady."

Jiraiya's face became one of disappointment. "She lost again, didn't she?" he asked, knowing the answer already. "_Lovely_."

The drinker continued. "Her losses were piling up, so she went looking for a change of scenery."

"Where to?"

* * *

><p>Orochimaru and Kabuto were walking through a forested area, heading towards the recent whereabouts of Tsunade, Tanzoku Town. The town itself was surrounded by a tall wall and situated right in the middle of nowhere in the forest.<p>

"I have a little knowledge of Lady Tsunade myself," Kabuto informed his boss. "I was a member of the ninja medical core, after all. She was the first to propose what is now a very common practice: for each team to have a medical specialist included. Simple, but brilliant. It was a landmark idea – what becomes of a team on a battlefield if there is no one to administer emergency medical treatment? The answer is clearer than a fire in the night."

"Countless years on the battlefield have simply taught them how to cope with the ravages of war," the snake-man stated coldly. "All those who were sacrificed led to the method you speak of. And one only truly grasps the values of something once it has been taken away from you." His tone became more and more bitter. "This revolutionary idea, enacted by one of the legendary sannin hailed for her medical prowess, spawned in that sacrifice."

* * *

><p>Back with Naruto, the boy had made the small area around him an open graveyard for deflated rubber balls. He sat on his butt and took a deep breath. <em>I have to concentrate harder,<em> he thought as he closed his eyes and did his best to focus on the mark on his hand. _Concentrate… concentrate… concentrate… concentrate…_

However, what was absorbed in the spotlight that is his thoughts was far from what he had desired to think about.

"_Strike!_"

Naruto then began rolling on the forest floor in a fit of hysteric laughter, the image of Jiraiya's head with the rubber ball held by his teeth distracting him.

"_Strike!_"

"How can I concentrate with that stupid perv's face popping into my head?" Naruto laughed.

* * *

><p>Inside the walls of Tanzoku Town, a pair of women was walking out of a casino. They both appeared to physically be in their late twenties, with one being blonde with brown eyes and the other with black hair and black eyes.<p>

The blonde had tied her long hair into two loose ponytails, not to mention a strange rhombus mark on her forehead and her rather – for lack of a better term – well-endowed chest. Her outfit consisted of a grass-green kimono jacket, under which she wore a short-sleeved, kimono-style gray blouse that was held closed broad dark-blue obi that matched her pants, and adorning her feet was a pair of open-toed, high-heeled sandals. She also wore red polish on her fingernails and toenails, a light pink lipstick, a crystal necklace, and her blouse was closed pretty low in order to show off her cleavage – but enough about her physical looks.

The black-haired woman's hair was only at shoulder-length, and she did not use wear any cosmetics. Her outfit was a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings which was held closed by a white obi, and in contrast to her companion, her feet were walking in low-heeled, open-toed sandals. She was currently carrying a big bag of money and a small pig that wore a pearl necklace and a red jacket.

"Lady Tsunade – wait up, will you?" the black-haired woman said, her smiling mouth a direct opposite to the blonde's frown. "What's the matter? For you to win this much is a… a miracle! So why are you frowning?"

The blonde lady, the sannin Tsunade, looked around with a watchful gaze. "This town…" she muttered. "Something's not right here." She looked sharply at her companion. "Hurry up, Shizune – we're leaving."

"What?" Shizune asked in disappointment. "But, this is a tourist resort! We should take our time – maybe go to see the historic castle!"

The unskilled gambler began walking away at a strong pace. "Well, look fast so we can get out of here."

"But – Lady Tsunade!" the black-haired woman moaned as she ran alongside her friend.

* * *

><p>After more attempts, Naruto lay down on his back, sore from all the chakra-channeling. He had removed his headband and closed his eyes, enjoying the calming breeze. Meanwhile, Jiraiya was peeking at the orange-clad boy from behind a tree, a frown on his face. <em>I think he's almost at his limit, <em>he thought.

As Naruto rested, a stray leaf landed on his forehead. When he tried to brush it off, a memory played out in his mind – a memory of how he, Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji were being lectured by Iruka about misbehaving in class, which included leaving too early (Kiba and Naruto), eating during class (Choji and Naruto), and sleeping during class (Shikamaru and – you guessed it – Naruto). Iruka had planned to teach the kids about concentration by placing a leaf on their foreheads and making them focus their chakra on that specific point. The kids responded by brushing off the leaves and running away by jumping out the window, all while their teacher was yelling at them.

"This is the same thing," he realized, sitting up. "I should have paid more attention to what Iruka-sensei was telling us. I'm so stupid…" He looked at his right palm. "Oh well… I guess there's no use crying over spilt milk." He stood up and took another rubber ball. "Okay… I'm doing this, no matter what!"

He concentrated the hardest that he ever could and managed to completely focus on the mark in his hand. Feeling the chakra surge to the point, he began moving his right hand rapidly around the ball. With both absolute focus and the big amount of chakra, the sphere did not spring a leak this time, nor did it burst; rather it _exploded _from the sheer amount of chakra. So great was the explosion, in fact, that Naruto was sent flying backwards by the shockwave, skidding along the ground, eventually being stopped by Jiraiya.

Once the dust had settled, the Toad Sage took a look at the orange-clad boy's right hand, which was smoking a little. _This kid is something else, _he thought. _The chakra was so dense, it burned his palm._ He smirked. _One surprise after another…_

Naruto turned his head just enough to look at the old man out of the corner of his eye, a small smirk on his lips. "Whaddya know… It finally popped…" he breathed.

"Well done," Jiraiya congratulated. "It looks like you've mastered the second step."

The boy's smirk grew wider. "C'mon, then… What's the third one?"

The Toad Sage frowned. "That'll have to wait for now," he said seriously. "We need to regroup with your friends and meet up with Tsunade."

* * *

><p>Tsunade and Shizune were looking at Tanzoku Town's greatest tourist attraction: a massive castle. "Wow!" the latter of the two women cried out in childish wonder. "Tanzoku Castle sure does have a commanding presence! Well, they didn't designate it a cultural landmark for nothing, I suppose!"<p>

The sannin, annoyed, began walking away. "Stop lollygagging around," she groaned. "We have to get outta this town."

"But, don't you wanna get a better peek at it?" the black-haired woman asked as she ran after her companion. "It doesn't cost anything to look, you know."

The blonde suddenly stopped and turned her head to look at the castle. _What is this chill I'm feeling? _she wondered.

Then, like lightning from a clear sky, the castle exploded from the top floor. Once the giant cloud of dust dissolved, a gigantic snake emerged from the rubble, two well-known criminals standing on its head. Eyes wide, Shizune stammered, "Is… is that…?"

"Orochimaru…" Tsunade frowned.

From his high position, Orochimaru gave an evil chuckle. "I've finally found you," he said, a dangerous gleam in his eye.

* * *

><p>dopliss: And that signals the end of the training sessions. The next chapters, we'll move on with the plot. Until then, <em>mi amigos<em>!

Mizuki: (annoyed) _Please _don't do that again. You can't speak Spanish.

dopliss: Or German, or French, or Japanese, or Chinese, or Klingon…


	65. Chapter 65 Sannin reunion

**dopliss: Hi there, guys. Sorry for not having updated last week, but I have a very good reason why. Now, I could either tell you… (smirks) or I could sing it to you.**

**Mizuki: Just tell us.**

**dopliss: Fine. My computer's motherboard and hard drive gave out, resulting in the rest of my computer crashing. But now I've got a new computer and I'm ready to resume writing!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any anime or manga franchise known to men, women or children. If animals know of them, then I guess I own them. …Maybe?**

* * *

><p>"Okay…" Fukigen said. "Let's see how much progress you've made."<p>

In front of the feline sensei was a clearing with four people standing on it. To his left were Torabu and Takai, and to the right were two zombies, which were tasked with the purpose of being practice dummies. "Okay, Torabu," the fiery female said, holding her hands close together at her right hip. "I'll show you the technique one more time."

She charged her chakra into her hands and made a massive fireball between them. "Now, do you know how I am doing this?" she asked.

"Yup," the cat-boy nodded. "You're using your chakra to gather the heat in the air to create a big fireball."

She smirked. "You're absolutely correct," she said. "Now, watch this." She thrust her hands forward and flung the fireball into one of the zombies, instantly blowing it to bits. "Alright, now it's your turn."

Torabu stepped forward a few steps and held both of his hands out to his sides. Concentrating deeply, he created a smaller sphere of flame in both hands. He then threw both of them at the last zombie, but unlike Takai's fireball, his only blew the arms and head off.

"Very good," Fukigen praised. "This proves you've learned how to do the Volcano Sphere."

"Well, almost," Takai added. "Each of those spheres only had half the power a big fireball would possess."

The troublemaking ninja turned to look at her. "I think my version is good enough," he replied. "I mean, with a big fireball in your hands, the opponent might dodge it, and then all that chakra would be wasted. It's better to have two of them that deal half damage so that you have _two_ chances to hit the opponent."

She giggled. "Okay, you've got a point there," she admitted. "But I've never missed whenever I fired one of those."

"That all depends on the user's aim."

The Bakeneko turned his head to see Jiraiya and Naruto approaching them while wearing their backpacks. "Hello there," he greeted. "Is it time that we move?"

"Indeed," the Toad Sage nodded. "I've found out where Tsunade currently is, so we need to get a move on before she leaves."

Torabu smirked. "Finally!" he cheered. "What're we waiting for, then? "Let's go!"

Takai gave the cat-boy a bored look. "Um, Torabu, isn't there something you've forgotten?" she asked. "Like our stuff, perhaps?"

The troublemaking ninja pounded his right hand into his left palm. "Oh, that's right…" he laughed sheepishly. He then turned his head to look at Naruto and Jiraiya and said, "We'll be back as soon as possible!" before rushing off back to town along with the fiery female.

Fukigen smirked mischievously. "If you'll excuse me, I've got some ladies to say goodbye to," he said and leapt away.

The Toad Sage turned to look at the orange-clad boy, who was frowning. "Why're you in such a bad mood?" he asked.

"Well, what do you think? We're still in the middle of my training!" Naruto replied angrily, holding up his right hand with three fingers extended. "You said there were three stages to learn, right?" He bended one of his fingers so that only two remained. "Well, I've only learned _two _of them! Now quit holding out on me!"

"Relax," the old man laughed, reaching into his pocket. "You can work on the third one while we're walking."

The boy's frown instantly turned into a bright smile. "What? Are you serious?!" he asked excitedly. But just as quickly as the smile appeared, it vanished once he saw the old pervert blow up a balloon. He caught it when the Toad Sage tossed it to him, squeezing it with his fingers. "Okay, what's the deal?"

Jiraiya blew up another balloon. "The first step you leaned was rotation, the second step was power," he told. "The third and final step for you to master is this."

Naruto stared intensely at the plastic sphere, nothing appearing to be out of the ordinary. After twenty seconds of staring, he finally asked, "What do you mean by 'this', already?!"

Jiraiya laughed again. "It looks like I'm simply holding an ordinary balloon, doesn't it?" he asked.

Still miffed, the boy asked, "Whaddya mean, 'looks like'?! That _is _all you're doing, you pervy weirdo!"

The Toad Sage smirked and said, "Let me try again – over on my left hand, this time." He held out both hands in front of him so that they were mirroring each other, the only difference being the balloon in the right hand. "Let's see what's _really _happening inside the balloon."

Naruto's eyes widened in amazement when he saw a sphere of chakra appear in Jiraiya's left hand. It spun around furiously and got faster and faster, yet it still kept its perfectly round form. "Take a look at that!" the old man said. "It's like a small typhoon!"

The boy then figured it out. "So, what you're doing in your left hand is also happening in the balloon in you right?" he asked.

Jiraiya smiled. "That's right!" he replied. "What do you think? Nifty, huh?"

_Awesome! _Naruto thought. _He's got all that chakra whizzing around… and the balloon isn't even moving!_ He looked with narrowed eyes at the balloon in his own left hand. _There's more power than when the rubber ball popped, and WAY more spin to it._

"Now listen," the Toad Sage said, making the chakra in both of his hands dissolve into nothing. "In the third step, you've got to draw up 100% of what you've learned so far and then maintain it. In other words: keeping the power and rotation of your chakra at their maximum." He held the balloon closer to the boy. "First, visualize a thin membrane just inside the balloon. Then, compress the chakra inside it."

"Hey, I think I get it now!" Naruto exclaimed, a big smile on his face. "So this stage is about keeping up the power and rotation that I've learned, only this time without letting it pop open a delicate balloon!"

"Well… you're starting to get the hang of this! Good!" the old man praised.

The orange-clad boy then thought of something. "Wait, hold on a second… So why exactly am I going to all this trouble?" he asked.

Jiraiya smirked, tossed his balloon to the boy, and walked over to a nearby tree. "Watch closely," he instructed. "After the first two steps of training, you get this." He made another sphere of chakra in his right hand and thrust it into the tree, carving a big spiral on its surface.

"Then, once you've mastered the third step… you get _this_." He made a more powerful sphere in his right hand and pressed it against the tree. This one did not carve a spiral in the tree, but instead it chew away at the tree until there was a huge hole, as if some huge creature had just taken a bite out of it.

Jiraiya turned back to look at the stunned Naruto, his smirk still plastered on his face. "If you can keep that small typhoon the size of your palm, then the energy will be unable to disperse," he told. "It will spin faster and faster, and its power will become more and more compressed… and its destructive power will reach its max." He shrugged. "So… there you have it."

Naruto looked down at one of the balloons and smirked in confidence. _This'll be a piece of cake! _he thought. Pocketing one of the balloons, he held the other steadily in his left hand, channeled his chakra into his hands, and then moved his right hand rapidly around the plastic sphere. Once he had spun the chakra enough, he pressed down on the balloon, gritting his teeth as he concentrated on maintaining his chakra. _Keep it going…! Keep it going…! _But unfortunately, the balloon popped, unleashing a strong gust of wind in all directions.

"There's no cutting corners here," Jiraiya said sternly. "Get your power and rotation to 100% and then maintain them."

The orange-clad boy, wide-eyed, looked down at his hands. _This is crazy! _he thought. _Unless I can perfectly control my power, it's impossible! This third step… it's on a whole other level compared to the first two!_

The old pervert gave an amused smile. "I told you, didn't I?" he said. "This is an A-ranked technique and a highly advanced Ninjutsu, kid." He sighed. "Alright, once the others come back, we immediately start walking. You can practice on the road."

Naruto looked back up at the old man. "Hey, hold on a minute!" he complained. "Do we have to rush? Give me a chance to–"

"We've already wasted enough time waiting for you to recover your strength," the Toad Sage interrupted. "There's no guarantee that Tsunade will stay in that town much longer. It's not like she's gonna bump into some old acquaintance and start reminiscing over the good old days."

* * *

><p>Ironically enough, Jiraiya was half-right. Yes, Tsunade had bumped into an old acquaintance of hers, but they were certainly <em>not <em>reminiscing about the past.

After having dismissed the giant snake that destroyed Tanzoku Castle, Orochimaru and Kabuto were standing opposite of Tsunade and Shizune, the latter of the women having put the pig down on the ground. All four of them were looking at each other through narrow eyes, ready for anything that might happen, only a wall standing behind both teams.

After some heavy and intense silence, Tsunade decided to break it. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Orochimaru?" she said coldly.

"Indeed," the snake-man replied, smiling viciously. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

The gambling sannin clenched her fists. "What do you want with me after all this time?" she asked. "You feel like kicking around stories of the old days?"

"Actually, I was hoping to ask you for a favor."

Being the medical genius that she was known for, Tsunade could easily tell that something was wrong with Orochimaru. _His heartbeat is rising… and he's burning up, by the look of it… Definitely signs of prolonged fatigue, _she thought. _And his arms…_

"Lady Tsunade," Kabuto spoke. "I'm sure you've surmised by now that Lord Orochimaru is unwell."

"Find someone else," the gambling sannin said dismissively. "I haven't treated anyone in years."

But Kabuto refused to take 'no' for an answer. "That won't do," he stated. "Surely you realize how serious these wounds are. There isn't anyone who can cure him of his infliction – except, of course, the legendary sannin and medical genius, Lady Tsunade. Only _you _can do this."

Tsunade turned her attention back to the snake-man. "Those arms of yours… that's no ordinary injury," she stated. "What've you gotten yourself into?"

"Nothing, really," Orochimaru replied coolly. "I was just killing the Third Hokage."

The two women gasped in shock, their eyes widening. They then returned to their previous expressions. "Impossible!" the gambling sannin said. "Is this true?"

The pale villain smirked playfully. "Oh, come now, Tsunade, quick shooting me that dirty look. Anything that has form must someday decay – even men." His smirk and eyes became taunting. "But I don't really need to tell _you _that, now do I? After all, you let the two most dear to you march off to their deaths."

The two women's faces showed signs of increasing but suppressed anger, while Kabuto's showed one of curiosity. '_Let the ones dear to her die'? _he wondered. _I see… This is a wicked game he's playing._

Orochimaru chuckled evilly. "Such a pity…" he said tauntingly. "It really was a terrible way for them to die."

That was when Shizune had had it. "You…!" she growled and quickly pulled up her right sleeve, revealing five slingshot-like devices on her arm. She pulled back five strings and fired five needles at the snake-man. Unfortunately for her, Kabuto intercepted the projectiles' path, deflected four of them with a hooked kunai, and grabbed the last one, noticing that it was dripping with poison at the tip. Throwing the last needle away, he saw the sannin's assistant running towards him at high speed, a scalpel in her right hand.

"Get out of my way!" she screamed.

"I won't let you!" he yelled back as he prepared to fight.

"Shizune! Calm down!" Tsunade shouted.

The two sannins' assistants immediately stopped, and Shizune panted hard I order to calm herself. While the two sharp weapons had not hurt anyone, they were very close to their respective targets, with Kabuto's kunai close to her chin and Shizune's scalpel right at his throat. As both backed away from each other, Kabuto could not help admitting that his would-be opponent was powerful.

Once she had calmed herself, Tsunade sighed deeply and tilted her head down. "Orochimaru…" she said in a dangerously sweet voice, "you were always this twisted, even when we were kids." She raised her head and closed her eyes, smiling. "Come on, you know what type of gal I am. Don't even kid with me, okay?" She then slammed her right hand into the big wall behind her, completely destroying it! Her facial expression then became one that showed lots of rage. "Or shall I kill you where you stand?!"

Kabuto silently gulped. _She's strong… and terrifying, _he thought. _I better keep my eye on her._

* * *

><p>After some short traveling, Naruto, Torabu and their adult travel companions had arrived at the gates of Tanzoku Town. "Tsunade's impatient and extremely quick to anger," Jiraiya warned.<p>

Naruto fell over onto his back after accidentally popping another balloon with his chakra. Torabu and Takai had figured out that this was part of learning that new Jutsu, but they had no idea how the heck it worked. The old pervert turned his head to look at the fallen boy and said, "C'mon, kid – we don't have time for kicking back. If we don't hurry, who knows where that wayward woman would scamper off to next?"

Naruto, annoyed, jumped to his feet and pointed accusingly at the old man. "Listen, you Pervy Sage!" he growled. "That's no way to talk to an apprentice who's working his butt off!"

"Oh, zip it," the Toad Sage replied and began walking towards the town. "Just calm down, will ya? Tsunade's the priority here."

Naruto just silently watched the old man. _He came all this way to find this lady, _he thought as he blew up another balloon. _She must really be something._

Torabu then ran up in front of Jiraiya. "Yo, old man," he said. "I think we should split up into groups so we'll find her quicker."

The old pervert smiled and nodded. "Not a bad idea," he replied. "You and Naruto can check out the east side of town, while the lovely lady in red and I can check out all the—"

"I'll go with Torabu," the fiery female interrupted sternly.

The old man gave her a frown of disappointment. "Aw, c'mon…" he groaned.

* * *

><p>"Please, we haven't come all this way to fight!" Kabuto said. "We're here to negotiate."<p>

"Negotiate?" Tsunade scoffed. "Are you trying to make me laugh?! Get lost! I'm not gonna warn you again!"

Kabuto scowled. "I'm afraid that's just impossible," he said.

"Get out of here."

He narrowed his eyes. "You're the only one who can cure Lord Orochimaru's arms – you know that!"

"I'm warning you."

"We're not asking for charity. We can make a deal here."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes dangerously. "I'll count down from five," she warned. "I suggest you leave before I'm done – otherwise, I'll have to _make _you."

"Please, try to remain calm. This could prove beneficial for both of us."

Tsunade, however, ignored Kabuto's pleas and began the countdown. "Five… Four…"

Kabuto sighed in defeat.

"Three…"

Orochimaru frowned.

"Two…"

Shizune prepared herself for combat.

"And one…"

Right at the last possible second, Orochimaru made the others stand perfectly still by saying with a smirk, "I'm offering to bring your little brother and your beloved back to life… with a forbidden Jutsu that I have developed." At the sight of seeing his fellow sannin and her assistant frozen in place by his words, his smirk grew wider. "I can't help but notice you haven't chased us off yet, my old friend. I suppose it's safe to assume we have a deal here, then?"

Tsunade looked down at the ground, her fists shaking and her eyes twitching in uncertainty. She then looked back up at her old acquaintance, doubt written all over her face. "What do you plan on doing once your arms have been restored to you?" she asked.

Orochimaru grinned like a crocodile. "Well, you know me," he said. "I've never been one to lie. So I'll just give you the truth – how about that?" His eyes shone with an evil light. "In addition to grabbing all I desire… this time around, I'm going to grind Konoha into dust."

* * *

><p>dopliss: And with this chapter over, let's all have a moment of silence for my old computer.<p>

Mizuki: (on a megaphone) DOPLISS'S COMPUTER IS DEAD! REJOICE, EVERYBODY!


	66. Chapter 66 Dealing with card sharks

**dopliss: And with the start of December, let us continue this popular story.**

**Mizuki: How do you know this story's popular? There're only 22 reviews.**

**dopliss: True, but I can see that a lot of people are reading. Ergo, it's popular.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine, and I'm not lyin'. Wow… that rime was forced.**

* * *

><p>"Have you seen this woman around here?"<p>

That was the question that Takai asked the random people and employees in Tanzoku Town's gambling houses. Jiraiya had given her a picture of Tsunade so that those she asked could see who they were asked information about. So far, most people she and Torabu have asked gave negative answers.

The two of them walked into another gambling house and walked up to one of the male employees. The fiery female showed him the picture and asked, "Seen this lady around? We're looking for her, you see."

The man looked at the picture and smiled at them. "Yeah, I've seen her," he answered. "She left a few hours ago."

Torabu nodded and asked, "Did she mention where she was going?"

The man's smile turned into an impish smirk. "Oh, I can't say for sure. My memory of that particular woman is a bit hazy, you see. Although…" He took out a plastic cup and a pair of dice from his jacket. "Depending of the outcome, my mind might be cleared and I can tell you what you need to know."

The cat-boy smirked and closed his eyes. "So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" he asked. He then opened his eyes and sat down opposite of the man. "Fine, then. I'll play your game."

"Torabu, you're underage," Takai said strictly in a motherly tone.

"Aw, c'mon – let the kid play," the man replied. "There's nothin' wrong with an innocent dice game."

The troublemaking ninja looked the man straight in the eyes. "What're the rules, old man?" he asked.

"The rules are simple." The man put the dice in the cup and rattled it. "We're gonna play a game of Cho-Han. If the total sum of the dice is even, then it's Cho; if not, then it's Han." He slammed the cup down on the ground and then lifted it, the dice showing two and five. "See? That makes Han. All you've got to do is guess which one it'll be – even or odd – and if it's right, then you win and I'll tell ya what you need to know. If you lose, however…" He placed the cup over the dice. "…it'll cost you a thousand."

Takai frowned as she looked down at the cup. _This man is cheating, _she thought. _I could see the numbers five and two on two different sides of the same dice. He's using a pair of dice with odd numbers on one and even numbers on the other, making the result Han no matter what._

"A thousand, you say?" Torabu asked, putting his right hand in his pocket and his left on his chin. "That is an awful lot to lose. But the chances of winning are fifty-fifty, so I guess it's worth a shot." He picked up the cup and dice with his left hand and covered the opening with his right. "You're on, old man!"

The fiery female watched with wary eyes as the cat-boy shook the cup, his tail twisting around behind him. _Looks like he also saw the dice, _she thought. _My guess is he's going to choose Han._

The troublemaking ninja then slammed the cup down and gave the man a confident glare. "I guess Cho!" he exclaimed, which made Takai silently gasp. "Lift it and see if I'm right or wrong."

The man's smirk grew wider as he placed his hand on the cup and slowly lifted it. The three of them had their eyes locked on the hidden dice, the air thick with tension. When the dice where unveiled, both adult's eyes grew wide. "W-W-What?!" the man exclaimed.

One of the dice showed five… the other… also five.

"Looks like I win," Torabu said cockily, smirking proudly. "Now spill the beans, gramps. Where did the lady go?"

The man sat in stunned silence for a moment, but then piped up. "A… companion of hers mentioned something about sightseeing," he answered. "If you look around the town's tourist attractions, then you might find her."

"Good to know." The cat-boy picked up the dice, put them back into the cup, and stood up. "C'mon, Takai – let's go." And with that, the two of them turned to leave.

The man felt a surge of anger. He knew that the boy cheated somehow. "W-Wait a second!" he called.

The two turned their heads to look at him. "Something wrong?" the troublemaking ninja asked.

The man felt a lump form in his throat. He knew that if he called him out for cheating, he would reveal that he cheated himself, and that would just cause him unwanted trouble. "N…Nothing…" he said, hanging his head in defeat.

Once the two of them were far enough away to get out of the man's earshot, Takai asked, "How did you win? Those dice were obviously rigged."

The boy's smirk grew wider as he held up his right hand. "So was this one," he said, opening his hand to reveal a die with all sides showing odd numbers.

"Where did you get that from?"

He chuckled and tossed the die in front of him. What followed was a sudden puff of smoke, and then a clone of the troublemaking ninja emerged from it. "You see," the original began as the clone disappeared, "I always keep a few Shadow Clones transformed into kunai in my pocket for both extra ammunition and a surprise attack."

She smiled and chuckled. "You're smarter than I thought," she stated.

He closed his eyes and put both hands in his pockets. "I didn't earn my reputation as the king of pranksters by being a goody two-shoes."

* * *

><p>Naruto's and Jiraiya's search has also been unable to bear fruit. But despite that, something eventful has happened. Naruto was goaded into buying a scratchcard from a stand by an old lady working there.<p>

Needless to say, he hit the jackpot.

The two of them were now walking down the streets, with Naruto happily holding up his now-stuffed frog-shaped wallet. "You're cuter when you're chubby, aren't you, froggie? Yes, you are!" he cooed, rubbing the wallet against his cheek.

Walking behind the boy, Jiraiya was glaring at the boy's back in jealousy. _I can't believe he won for just one ticket, _he thought. _The kid must have a knack for gambling. If only he was that sharp on his Jutsu._ He shook his head and stopped near a path that lead to a higher part of the town, while Naruto just kept walking in his blissful mood. _Anyhow, I need to focus on finding Tsunade. Where could she be? She couldn't have gotten far in such a short amount of time._

He turned his head to look at the other path. _Well… I guess we better find some high ground and take a look around. If I remember it correctly, this town surrounds a castle. If we climb up to the top…_ He turned his head back to look at Naruto, who had walked pretty far away. "Hey, Naruto! C'mon – this way!" he called.

The orange-clad boy snapped out of his cheering and turned around. "Alright!" he replied and quickly ran up to join the old man. "Found any clues?"

The Toad Sage began walking up the branching path, letting the boy catch up to him. "We can get a better viewpoint from the top of the big castle in the middle of this town," he explained.

Naruto looked upwards in an attempt to spot the castle. "Where is it?" he asked.

Jiraiya looked upwards, as well, and saw the tall walls that surrounded the castle – but not the castle itself, which was higher than the walls. "It's gone!" he gasped.

* * *

><p>While Tsunade was looking at the ground with depressed and thoughtful eyes, Orochimaru and Kabuto looked at her with smugness written all over their faces. Shizune, meanwhile, was scowling and baring her teeth. "You're going to destroy Konoha?" she asked as calmly as possible.<p>

Both of the villains did not answer the question, keeping their focus on the female sannin. They had the upper hand, and they knew it. "Well, what do you say?" Kabuto asked.

Tsunade thought deeply about the choice. Was the possibility of the leaf village's destruction worth bringing back her younger brother and loved one from the dead?

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune shouted, trying to get her words through the gambling sannin's skull as forcefully as she could. "Don't trust them! Do not listen to their sweet words! Think of your brother and my uncle – they wouldn't have wanted any part of this! This isn't what they lived for! It would be a betrayal of them – a betrayal of yourself! Have you forgotten all your dreams?!"

Her eyes shone with pity and she looked at the ground. "I know… it's not easy. I know how tempting it must seem to you." Her look hardened and she looked directly at her companion. "Wake up, Lady Tsunade! Open your eyes—!"

"SHUT UP, SHIZUNE!" Tsunade suddenly snapped, without looking away from the ground. Shizune, shocked, kept her mouth shut.

"Don't decide _now_," Kabuto said. "We will expect your answer within the week. Keep in mind, if your answer is 'yes'… this Jutsu requires two human sacrifices. It will be _your _job to take care of that part."

Shizune, repulsed, reached into her kimono for a hidden weapon and entered a battle stance. "I say we kill them both, here and now!" she exclaimed. "C'mon, Lady Tsunade – what're we waiting for?! Together we can…!" She turned her head and saw that Tsunade had not moved a muscle. In fact, looking in her eyes, it looked like she was actually considering the deal.

Orochimaru signaled to Kabuto with his eyes, and his servant lifted his boneless and bandaged left arm up to his mouth. Once that was done, the snake-man bit a hole in his own finger, drawing blood. This move became noticed by the gambling sannin, who began shivering and whimpering. "It's true I may be a little weak right now," he said with a chuckle. "However… our good friend here has her own weaknesses, too, doesn't she?"

Shizune frowned and gritted her teeth. _Of course… _she thought. _He is a sannin, just like Lady Tsunade, which means he knows…_

"I see you haven't lost it yet… have you? Your fear of blood?" he continued. "Come… It's time for us to go, Kabuto." He turned his body to leave, but kept his gaze on his old acquaintance. "I look forward to your decision, Tsunade. I'm sure it will be the right one." And with that, he and his right-hand man disappeared from the two women's sight.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Jiraiya were standing on top of one of the walls surrounding the castle, watching the ruins of the cultural landmark. "So, what happened?" the boy asked. "It's like a typhoon hit it."<p>

"Yeah…" the old man agreed.

"Run! Run for your lives!"

Upon hearing the panic-filled cries, the two looked down and saw several people running away in fear. "Hey, you there!" the Toad Sage called, causing one of the people to stop. "What's going on? Tell me, what're you running from?"

The man, scared witless, replied, "If you're smart, you'll run too! There's a monster up there!"

"Now, just calm down," Jiraiya said. "What kind of monster? What do you mean?"

"A snake! A _huge _snake! It crushed the castle without even trying! I'm outta here!" And then the man resumed running.

"Wait, how big a snake?" Naruto asked the man in vain. "Hey – our village was attacked by one, too! Wait, don't go!"

"Naruto – c'mon!" Jiraiya said in absolute seriousness. "This could be the same snake. I'd like a closer look at this monster."

And so, they ran along the castle walls in search for the Godzilla-sized serpent. But their search was proven to be a wild-goose chase when they had spent a good few minutes surveying the area and finding nothing else but the wall that Tsunade had destroyed in one punch. "Looks like we're too late," the old man sighed, stopping at the area where the two other sannins had their faceoff.

Naruto stopped, too, and looked at the rubble that once was a wall. "Did the snake do this, too?" he wondered.

"Let's go, Naruto," the Toad Sage said with a sigh and began walking away. "We're not gonna find Tsunade here."

"Not again…" the orange-clad boy growled as he followed. "I was hoping he'd forgotten about her."

* * *

><p>With the sun setting and the moon rising, most of the people roaming the streets of Tanzoku Town were on their way home for some nice dinner. Other people, who were either too lazy to cook or wanting more fun in the town, could get something to eat at the local restaurants or taverns. Two of those who chose the latter option were Tsunade and Shizune, though for a different reason.<p>

"Hey, you! Another round over here!" the gambling sannin yelled to one of the employees, holding up an empty cup.

Shizune, the most sober of the duo, gently put a hand on the well-endowed woman's shoulder. "It's late," she stated. "We should be going, don't you think?"

Tsunade, who had taken off her jacket, slapped her companion's hand away and laid her head down on her folded arms. Right now, all she wanted was for alcohol to relieve her of her problems.

Meanwhile, just outside, Jiraiya and Naruto were walking along the street, the latter of the two tired. ""This is getting ridiculous," he complained. "How many places are you gonna drag me to? I'm starting to think this old lady doesn't even exist."

The old pervert then stopped and looked at the tavern's entrance. ""Well… in the meantime, we'll get a bite to eat in here," he said.

The boy looked at the tavern, as well, but his reaction was a negative one. "What're you talking about?!" he shouted. "This is a _tavern_!"

The old man gave the orange-clad boy a bored look. "Yeah. So what?"

Naruto glared up at him. "You trying to be a bad influence on me?" he asked. "_Hello_! I'm underage!"

Jiraiya sighed in annoyance. "You idiot…" he said. "Nobody is making you do anything, alright?" They then walked into the pub. "Just have a snack and stay out of the grownups' way."

"If we're looking for somewhere to eat, why don't we go somewhere real, like a ramen shop? Why _this _stinky dump?"

The Toad Sage shook his head. "When will you learn…?" he sighed again. "This is just the sort of place where you can pick up information." He looked around for a vacant booth and saw the one that was occupied by Tsunade, Shizune and the pig. The two women also spotted the old man, though the gambling sannin was a bit uncertain if the alcohol had messed with her view. "TSUNADE!" he exclaimed, pointing at the two women.

Tsunade bolted upright and stood up. "_Jiraiya_?!" she gasped. "What the…?! Why are you here?!"

"Finally!" the Toad Sage said with a smile as he walked over to their booth to join them. "I've been looking everywhere for you. I should've known you'd be in here."

Naruto just stood there at the entrance, staring at the blonde, big-breasted woman in surprise. _THAT is Tsunade?!_ he wondered. He then narrowed his eyes in annoyance. _'An old lady'… Yeah, right, Pervy Sage. I should've known…_

A few minutes later, the Toad Sage and orange-clad boy were seated opposite of Tsunade and Shizune, respectively. With some more sake to drink and some fried sardines for Naruto, all that remained a problem was convincing the female sannin to return to Konoha.

Tsunade drank the rest of her drink and sighed deeply. "It's like a reunion…" she said. "All these old faces coming back at the same time…"

Jiraiya, being a gentleman to members of the female sex, poured the last sake in the bottle into the gambling sannin's cup. After taking another sip from his cup, he assumed, "You mean Orochimaru?" The surprised expression that came over Shizune's face confirmed his assumption. "So what happened?"

"Oh, nothing much," the blonde lied. "We said 'hello', and that's about it." She then took out a deck of cards from her blouse and shuffled them. Once she decided that they were mixed enough, she put them down on the table. "Well then… Why have you been looking for me?"

Jiraiya took the deck, cut it, and shuffled the cards. "I'll cut right to the chase," he said seriously as he placed the deck down on the table. "Tsunade… In its wisdom, the village has come to the decision to name you as the Fifth Hokage."

The two women were frozen in shock, while Naruto's reaction was more severe… and comical, if you can call someone choking on a fish 'humorous'. While he tried to get the sardine out of his throat, Tsunade dealt her and the Toad Sage a hand of five cards. Fortunately, the orange-clad boy managed to swallow his problem. '_Fifth Hokage'?! _he wondered. _Where the hell did _that_ come from?!_

The two sannins picked up their respective hands and looked at the cards. "You've heard about the Third Hokage?" the old man asked.

"So it's true…" the gambling sannin sighed. "It was Orochimaru's doing, wasn't it? I've heard about it – in fact, he told me himself."

Due to the real cause of the Third Hokage's death being shaded, Naruto and many other residents of Konoha had no idea that Orochimaru had killed the late leader. "Hold on a second," he said. "You're saying _he's _the one who killed the old man?" He turned to Jiraiya. "Who is this Orochimaru guy?"

"He's one of the sannin, like Tsunade and yours truly," the Toad Sage answered.

"But then _why_? The sannins are all from Konoha, right? Why'd he do it?"

Tsunade cut a glare in the orange-clad boy's direction. "Who's this brat you've got with you?" she asked, which Naruto took offense to.

Jiraiya smirked. "This is Naruto Uzumaki," he introduced.

The gambling sannin's eyebrow rose. _This kid… is the Kyubi?_

"Okay, wait a second!" Naruto roared, standing up and slamming his left fist into the table. "I haven't finished yet! There's something about this I'm not getting!" He glared directly at Jiraiya. "So this guy… you _know _he's the one who murdered the Hokage! What have you done about it?!" He got angrier by the fact that the Toad Sage kept his eyes locked on his cards. "He's a sannin – he's one of you guys! Why is he still walking around?! Why haven't you caught him?! And oh yeah…" He pointed at Tsunade. "What's the deal about her being the Fifth Hokage?!"

"Naruto," Jiraiya said in a no-nonsense tone, "sit down and shut up."

"Absolutely not!" the orange-clad boy snapped.

The Toad Sage looked at Naruto out of the corner of his eye and said in the most serious tone that the boy has ever heard, "_Sit. Down_."

Intimidated, Naruto obeyed. Jiraiya then returned his gaze to his cards; he had Ace of Spades, King of Spades, Six of Diamonds, Six of Clubs, and Eight of Hearts. With a pair of sixes on his hand, he wondered what to discard. He then made up his mind and discarded the two sixes and the eight. While this would normally be a risky move, the three cards that he drew – King of Diamonds, Ace of Clubs and King of Clubs – more than made up for it, giving him a Full House. He chuckled and smirked at his hand, which made Tsunade frown.

"I'll say it once again," the Toad Sage said to his fellow sannin. "Konoha has made its decision. They have chosen you to be the Fifth Hokage. So… what's your answer? Do you accept it, Tsunade?"

Tsunade looked at her hand; Jack of Spades, Three of Hearts, Seven of Diamonds, Nine of Clubs, and Five of Spades. Nothing in that hand seemed to be useful to her. But as she looked at the cards, she also thought about the choice that she had. On one hand, she could heal Orochimaru's arms and get her brother and loved one back, but that would result in the possible downfall of the leaf village. On the other hand, she could accept becoming the new Hokage… but she had no idea what that would mean for her future.

Tsunade then looked up at the old pervert and discarded her entire hand. "Impossible," she said. "I decline."

Jiraiya gave an amused smile. "You know, it's kinda funny," he said. "That rings a bell. I remember you saying those very words the first and only time I ever asked you out."

Naruto groaned in annoyance, pressing his hands against his head. "Would somebody tell me what's going on?!" he shouted, turning to Jiraiya for help. "What the heck are we doing here?! You said we we're going to bring her back to the village to cure Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei! Then you pull this stuff about making her Hokage?! Then she goes and _refuses _it?!"

Shizune gulped as she looked at the gambling sannin with wide eyes. _No…_ she thought. _She couldn't really be thinking of accepting Orochimaru's offer… could she?"_

As Naruto screamed in frustration, Jiraiya calmed him down by saying, "Don't worry, Naruto. She knows she can't refuse; there can be no one else. There was no one who contributed more to Konoha's victory in the Great War. She combines unrivaled skill as a warrior with the ability to heal others. What's more, she is the granddaughter of the very first Hokage. So, in heritage and abilities, she is the clear and _only _choice to be the Fifth Hokage. And once she accepts her destiny – which she _will _– then she'll have to come back with us to the village, and then heal your friends. You see, it's all been very carefully thought out by the highest councils of the village. No offense, but it's not something an underage genin is expected to understand."

Tsunade snorted as she picked up five new cards. "You're slipping, Jiraiya," she said with a smirk. "This apprentice isn't at all like your last one. He's a fool with a big mouth. Funny-looking, too."

The Toad Sage turned his head to look at Naruto. "Well, to be fair, it's hard for anyone to measure up to _that _standard," he retorted. "The Fourth Hokage showed all the signs of becoming the greatest ninja in generations, brimming with talent and natural ability. He was brilliant, popular, and to top it all off, nearly as handsome as his teacher."

The gambling sannin looked at the first card in her new hand, the Ace of Hearts. "Oh, sure, but all that didn't save him from dying young," she stated. "Throwing his life away, all for the sake of the village?" She looked at her second card, the Jack of Hearts. "Money is one thing… a _life _is another. To risk your life against all the odds… that's a sucker's bet." She smirked at seeing Naruto shaking with anger. "My grandfather and his successor… they were also willing to die to defend the village. Well, they're both dead, alright… and the village is no safer than it ever was." She looked at her third card, which was the Queen of Hearts.

"Sounds to me you've changed, Tsunade," Jiraiya said with a frown. "I don't know what's happened to make you like this, but to say such things out loud?"

Tsunade giggled. "Don't forget, I'm not as young as I look," she replied. "The years have taught me a great deal." Looking at her fourth card, it was revealed to be the Ten of Hearts, bringing her one step closer to a Royal Straight Flush. "Sarutobi-sensei, too – he should've known better. What did he expect, trying to be a hero at his age?"

She looked at her fifth and final card… the Four of Spades. With nothing but a flop in her hand, she dropped the cards and leaned back against the wall, sighing. "Playing at Hokage? Count me out – it's a fool's game."

That was all that Naruto could take. If it was not for Jiraiya restraining him by the back of his jacket, he would have mauled Tsunade from his position on top of the table. "Let me go!" he growled in rage.

"That's enough," the old man scolded. "People are looking."

Naruto stomped on the table. "I'm not going to let her sit there and mocking the old man!" he hissed. "No way! I don't care if she is a lady – I'll knock that cynical sneer off her face!"

Tsunade sat silently and stared at the orange-clad boy. She then put her left foot down on the table and leaned on her knee, glaring him directly in the eyes. "Are you challenging me?" she asked dangerously. "You've got guts, if nothing else. Let's take this outside, kid."

* * *

><p>dopliss: Uh-oh! Looks like Naruto's picked the wrong lady to fight!<p>

Mizuki: Dude, why're you acting like that? You know what the outcome's gonna be.

dopliss: (annoyed) Don't you know anything about keeping people in suspense?

Mizuki: What suspense? All who are reading this story know what's gonna happen.


	67. Chapter 67 Necklace of death

**dopliss: Hello again, guys! Sorry for not having updated last week, but I have two very good reasons.**

**Mizuki: You'd better.**

**dopliss: The first reason is that I had to partake in some all-day activities with my family. The second is that I've been busy playing on my new Wii U console (it's freaking awesome! :D).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do own a Wii U, though…**

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><p>Standing out on the street outside of the tavern, Naruto and Tsunade squared off, the latter amused and the former hell-bent on making the sannin pay for badmouthing the title of Hokage and those who had borne it. Standing near the buildings on the orange-clad boy's right was Jiraiya, who had a bored expression on his face. Shizune and the pig stood near the buildings on the other side, serving the purpose of holding the blonde's jacket.<p>

"One of the legendary sannin taking on a snotty-nosed genin…? I oughta be ashamed of myself," Tsunade said mockingly.

"Who're you calling 'snotty'?!" Naruto growled.

The busty woman then held up her right index finger. "Oh, stop trying to show off…" Jiraiya groaned.

"You see this?" Tsunade asked Naruto, her voice confident. "One finger – it's all I'm gonna need to take you down."

Shizune gulped, incredibly nervous. "Please… don't…!" she pleaded.

The gambling sannin ignored her, however. "Well?" she goaded, wagging her finger. "What're you waiting for, kid?"

That was all that Naruto could take. "Don't… _ever _underestimate me!" he roared.

The orange-clad boy began running towards his opponent, drawing a kunai and throwing three shuriken, which Tsunade effortlessly dodged while remaining where she stood. When he tried to stab her, she quickly ducked, placed her right index finger in the ring at the handle of the kunai, slipped it out of his grip, and used it to fling it and his headband off his forehead and into the air, all in the span of five seconds. When Naruto recovered, he was met with a flick to the forehead so strong that he was sent rolling backwards a few meters.

He stood back up and rubbed his sore forehead, ready to attack again, but was stopped when he saw his kunai and headband land in front of him. _Whoa…! She's good!_ he thought in awe.

"Hey, kid!" Tsunade called, breaking the orange-clad boy out of his amazement. "One question before you pass out." She gave him a serious look. "Tell me… what makes you so touchy about Hokage?"

Calmed down a little from earlier, Naruto answered with a frown, "It's because, unlike you, that's my goal. Just watch; someday I'll _be _Hokage!" He gave a victorious smirk. "Remember this: To be Hokage – that is my dream!"

Tsunade's eyes widened in surprise; she could see something in the boy… something familiar. She was reminded of someone from her past with the same determination as the cocky little boy in front of her. Feeling depression seep into her mind from the nostalgia, she averted her gaze.

_She let her guard down!_ Naruto noticed. _There's no way I can take her head-on… Now's the time to use that Jutsu!_ Despite the fact that it was in its incomplete state, he focused his chakra into his hands and made a sphere.

Tsunade snapped back to attention and saw her opponent run towards her. Her eyes were locked on to the sphere in his hands that was reeled back and ready to strike. _That Jutsu…!_ she thought, gritting her teeth.

Before he could reach her and attack her, she used her absurdly-powerful strength and made a large crack in the ground with her finger. Losing his foothold, Naruto tripped and made the sphere connect with the earth in the crack, which caused it to carve a spiral in the dirt and send its user flying backwards and land in the crack, stuck.

_Hmm… Tsunade's as strong as ever, I see, _Jiraiya thought as Shizune helped Naruto out of the crack. _I remember the time she gave me a shot that sent me flying a hundred meters in the opposite direction… ouch._ He looked over at the now-unstuck Naruto, who was on all fours coughing. _He shouldn't even try to take her on._

"Jiraiya," Tsunade addressed the old pervert, "are you the one who taught this little kid the Rasengan?"

The old man shrugged. "Well, of course I did. I'm his teacher, aren't I?" he answered. "What of it?"

The busty woman frowned. "You and the Fourth Hokage are the only ones who can use that Jutsu. What's the point of teaching it to someone who can never master it, you old fool? Giving him false hopes like that, filling his head with stupid ideas, making him think he could actually be Hokage someday…"

Naruto got back up on his feet and snapped, "I'll show you who's stupid! Just you wait!" He held up three fingers. "Give me just three days, and I'll have that Jutsu down flat!"

The gambling sannin returned her gaze to the orange-clad boy and gave a short laugh. "Watch what you say, kid; I might just hold you to it," she warned, smirking.

Naruto smirked back. "I said it, and I never go back on my word! That's my ninja way!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, interested. "Well then…" she said. "Care to make a bet on it? I'll give you one week – if you can master that Jutsu by then, I'll admit I'm wrong and that you're worthy of becoming Hokage." She then tapped her necklace. "I'll even throw in my necklace."

"Lady Tsunade, no!" Shizune protested, sounding surprisingly afraid. "You don't really mean that!"

Naruto placed both hands on the back of his head. "Nah, you can keep it; I'm not really into jewelry," he declined.

"You numbskull…" Jiraiya groaned. "That necklace belonged to the First Hokage himself – there's only one like it in the world. Why, that little thing is worth three gold mines and the mountains on top of them."

It rarely ever happened, but that little devil that is Naruto's greed came out to play. After wiping a bit of drool away, he nonchalantly said, "Lady, you've got yourself a bet."

The Toad Sage sighed. _It's always money with this kid…_

"However," Tsunade continued, "if you don't master it in a week, you lose and admit I was right…" She reached into her right pocket and pulled out the orange-clad boy's frog-shaped wallet. "…and I get the money in froggie."

While Naruto, who was shocked that his wallet had been swiped away from him without his notice, was checking his pockets for the rest of his items, Shizune walked up to the busty woman. "Lady Tsunade, what're you doing?!" she demanded. "How could you gamble with the necklace?"

The gambling sannin scoffed and turned around. "He hasn't a chance of winning," she said, throwing the wallet over her shoulder. "Let's go, Shizune." With that said, she walked away.

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><p>"So, if you can master this 'Rasengan' thing in a week's time, she'll give you a really pricy necklace?" Torabu asked.<p>

The troublemaking ninja was currently in Naruto's and Jiraiya's hotel room, lying on his stomach on the bed, twirling his tail around. Naruto, meanwhile, was hiding his wallet so that Tsunade would not break in and steal it from him. "That's the case," he said and casually placed his hands on the back of his head.

"And what about the whole 'Fifth Hokage' thing – has she accepted or not?" the cat-boy asked.

Naruto shook his head. "First thing she did after getting the offer was refusing it. And then she even had the nerve to insult the title of Hokage."

Torabu's ears flattened against his head and he turned around to lie on his back. "Man, sounds like she's a real bitch…" he commented. "I don't know _what _the old man's seeing in her."

Then, someone was knocking on the door, earning both boys' attention. "Who could that be at this time?" Naruto wondered aloud as he walked towards the door, which was knocked on again. "Okay, okay – I'm coming, already."

But before he could open the door, the person on the other side opened it, revealing Shizune's worried face. ""I know it's awfully late," she said. "I'm sorry, but I must talk to you."

Torabu got up and looked at the doorway. "You know this woman, Naruto?" he asked.

The black-haired woman looked past the orange-clad boy and spotted the boy with the ears and tail of a cat. "Oh! I didn't think there were others who sleep in here," she said, walking into the room. "You certainly have an… interesting appearance."

Torabu's ears twitched and his tail twisted around behind him. "I'm not that odd compared to stuff like demons and talking animals," he replied.

Once the two had been introduced to each other, Naruto asked Shizune, "Would you please leave? I wanna get a good night's sleep 'cause I'm gonna start training first thing in the morning."

"That's just it," she said with a grim frown on her face. "Before you get into this, there's something you _must _know about the necklace… and also about Lady Tsunade."

Naruto scoffed. "I couldn't care less about that crazy old bat," he replied.

That sentence angered Shizune. "Don't say that! She's not the type of person you think she is!" she snapped. "What right have you- You don't know anything about her!" She then took a few deep breaths and looked down at the ground, calm and ashamed. "Please forgive me. I did not mean to shout."

_I've got a feeling she knows something about this Tsunade lady that we don't… _Torabu thought as he sat on the bed.

"Lady Tsunade wasn't always like that," Shizune told. "She used to be so kind and dedicated to the village, but… she's changed." A somber light shone from her eyes. "Ever since that day…"

"Ever since what day?" Naruto asked, curious.

"The day… she lost all she had – dreams, hopes, everything. She had nothing left after that… except the necklace and all of its memories." She looked up into the orange-clad boy's eyes. "Please understand, that necklace is more precious than life for her. It's not simply a piece of jewelry to be gambled away on a silly bet."

Naruto was indifferent towards that statement. "Look, a bet is a bet," he said. "Anyway, it was her idea, not mine."

She narrowed her eyes. "You'll be sorry! If you think it's something you'll be able to wear like a trophy…! This is not just any necklace! It won't accept anyone else wearing it! Only on Lady Tsunade does it remain safe!" She closed her eyes. "When anyone else puts it on… they _die_!"

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><p>Tsunade sat on top of the gate to Tanzoku Town, looking down at the First Hokage's necklace in her hand. That little trinket… it holds so many painful memories. She wanted to forget them, but knew that she could not. She brought her knees up to her chin and hugged herself for some comfort. Naruto's words… his appearance… those things also brought back the memories of pain and despair.<p>

As she let the past experiences in her life float through her mind, tears slowly fell from her eyes and she quietly sobbed.

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><p><em>Decades ago, Tsunade – a kid at the time – and her little brother were on a hill overlooking Konoha. The little tyke had a mop of light-brown hair, had green-gray eyes, and he wore a teal poncho top and light-green pants, along with a headband.<em>

"_Nawaki… I can't believe you're twelve," Tsunade said merrily, giving her brother a rectangular present. "Happy birthday!"_

_Nawaki, acting like a cool guy, took the present and stated, "Just because you're my sister, you don't have to give me presents. I'm not a little kid anymore, you know."_

_She gave an amused smile. "Oh yeah? You're still a kid, as far as I'm concerned," she retorted. "Anyway, whether you are or not, go on and open it! I bet you're definitely gonna like it."_

_The boy tore the paper off and revealed the present to be a jewel case. Curious, he opened it and took out the First Hokage's necklace. He looked up at his sister and asked breathlessly, "Sister… is this what I think it is?"_

"_Yep!" Tsunade answered, smiling brightly. "It belonged to our grandfather – the necklace of the First Hokage!"_

_Overjoyed, Nawaki cried, "I love you!" and wrapped his arms tightly around his sister, who hugged back._

"_I thought it'd make more sense for you to have it," she stated. "I know you've had your eye on it for a long time now. Take good care of it."_

_He stepped away from her and gave a wide smile. "Oh, I will – and not just the necklace!" he replied, the second part of the sentence surprising Tsunade. "This entire village meant a lot to our grandfather…" He placed the necklace around his neck and walked over to the railing. "…and I'm gonna take good care of all of it! After all, I'm the grandson of the Hokage who built Konoha."_

_She smiled and looked at the village. "Remember, like you always say, a man never goes back on his word," she said._

"_And I give my word," he said. "I'll follow our grandfather's footsteps and be just like him." He smiled wider. "To be Hokage – that is my dream!"_

_Tsunade then got an idea and turned to face her brother. "Nawaki… take off your headband, just for a sec," she said._

_He faced her, as well, and did as he was told. "Why?" he asked._

"_I've got one more present I want to give you." She got down on one knee in front of him. "…A magic charm to help your dream come true."_

_She then leaned forward and gave her brother a friendly kiss on the forehead. When she leaned away from him and stood up, the two of them were silent. That silence was broken when Nawaki gave a big grin and giggled, which Tsunade did as well._

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><p><em>The day after was a tragedy.<em>

_Tsunade, along with her fellow sannin – Jiraiya standing next to her and Orochimaru leaning against a wall in front of her – were inside a building, the rain outside pouring down violently from the night sky. She was panting in fear; someone was in the room next door._

_She quietly whimpered as she began walking towards the room, but Jiraiya stopped her by placing a hand on her left shoulder. "No," he said, "it's best if you don't look, Tsunade."_

"_What difference can it make?" Orochimaru asked, his face not showing any negative emotions. "The condition the body is in… She won't even be able to recognize her little brother."_

"_Silence, Orochimaru!" the Toad Sage hissed._

_The snake-man ignored his fellow sannin, however. "This is what happens in war," he continued. "Ninjas are just left on the battlefield to die. There are no doctors or healers to help them." He reached into his kimono and pulled out something. "It's too bad the boy was so reckless, as if he thought he was invulnerable. And the day after receiving such a lovely gift, too…"_

_He slowly let go of the object in his hand, letting the First Hokage's necklace hang from his fingers._

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><p><em>After a year had passed, Tsunade's heart was only slightly healed. The Third Hokage and the highest councilmember had summoned all of the jonin and chunin at the time for a meeting, and Tsunade definitely had something to say.<em>

"…_Therefore, I'm making the proposal for any four-ninja team that we send into harm's way," the gambling sannin said. "If we make one member of each team a trained medical specialist, it will not only increase the survival rate, but will improve the chances of their mission being a success. I say we need to establish a teaching facility selected ninjas in the healing arts, and we need to do it now, at once. We've lost too many ninjas already."_

_The Third Hokage nodded. "Ah, yes, there is much sense in what you say, Tsunade," he agreed, "but at present, we have no one with enough expertise in such things. And we're in the midst of a great war – such an undertaking would require time and resources, and our enemies won't sit back and wait for us."_

_This angered Tsunade. "So we do nothing?!" she asked, slamming both hands against her desk. "We go on throwing their lives away?!"_

"_I agree! I say she's right!"_

_Tsunade calmed down and looked with surprise in her eyes at the one who spoke – a young man with pale-blue hair that reached his back, blue eyes, and dressed in a standard Konoha ninja uniform, though with a pocket-less vest. "If we can learn to save future generations of ninjas," he continued, "then those who've died… perhaps this way, their deaths will have meaning."_

_After the meaning had ended and everyone was on their way home, Tsunade had caught up with the man. "Thanks for what you did in there," she said._

_He replied with a kind smile. "There's no need to thank me; what you said was right," he stated. He then took a look around before returning his gaze to her. "I was thinking… It's getting late – would you like me to see you home?"_

_She was surprised by the offer and felt her cheeks get a little hot. "But, isn't your house…"_

"_The other way, yes," he finished with a grin._

_She did not feel like burdening him, so she held her hands up in denial. "Don't bother – really," she said._

"_Oh, it's no bother," he replied. "I wanted to talk to you anyway." The two of them then started walking, with him a few steps in front of her. "Besides, I love this walk and all its memories; it's the way I used to go to pick my little sister up at school."_

_Upon hearing those words, she stopped walking. "'Used to'?" she asked._

_He stopped as well. "Yes. That night a year ago, when the village was attacked, my sister was killed."_

_Tsunade could easily pity him. Losing a loved one causes unbelievable grief in one's heart; she believed that he had felt the same as she had when she found out that Nawaki was dead. He must really miss her, just as she really misses her brother._

We're the same,_ she thought._

* * *

><p><em>Time went by at its slow pace, and Tsunade grew closer to the pale-blue-haired man. They spent more and more time together, until they eventually became a couple.<em>

_As the two of them stood on a small bridge and looked at the river underneath it, Tsunade stated in sadness, "Tomorrow is another mission into enemy territory."_

"_Whoever said it was a ninja's duty to watch his comrades die one by one?" he asked, just as depressed._

"_Yeah… I know…" she sighed._

"_We're beset by death – it's all around us. I'd give my life to bring some order to this war-torn world." He looked up at the sky. "I love this village and the people within it with all of my heart. I want to protect them. I want to lead them into building a better world than this. It's been my dream ever since my sister died – it's all that's kept me going." He gave a small smile and rested his elbows on the railing. "To be Hokage – that is my dream."_

_Tsunade was touched by her boyfriend's kindhearted personality and words, and surprised at the similarity between his ambitions and her deceased brother's. She clenched her right hand over her necklace, determined to help him in fulfilling his dream._

"_Dan…" Whispering his name, she gave him a kiss on the forehead, just as she had done to Nawaki on his twelfth birthday. "…I want you to have this."_

* * *

><p><em>Dan was dying.<em>

_He was lying in a pool of his own blood in a forest at nighttime. His two teammates were next to him, and Tsunade was on top of him, her hands glowing with chakra. "Hang on, Dan! You'll be all right!" she pleaded as she desperately used her healing Jutsu to save the life of her beloved._

_He looked up at her, which was hard because of the rain and lack of energy. "Tsunade…" he wheezed, his very lifeblood choking him from the inside. "…I don't wanna die yet… There are… so many things… left to do…"_

"_Don't try to talk!" she demanded, her voice strained with sadness, fear and panic._

He's all torn up inside…_ one of the other two teammates thought grimly. _No one can help him now, not even one of the sannin.

"_It can't be… I can't die here… Not this way… Not yet…" Dan whispered._

_Tears streamed down Tsunade's face and mixed with the rainwater. "Don't worry, Dan; I've stopped the bleeding," she cried. "Just save your strength… you're going to be all right…"_

_He struggled to make a smile as his eyelids grew heavy. "…Thank goodness…" he said. "…That's a relief…"_

_Panic skyrocketed up in Tsunade when she saw her love's eyes close and felt his pulse and heartbeat fade. "Hang on! No!" she screamed, both using her healing Jutsu and giving Dan CPR. "No… don't leave…! Come back, Dan…! Don't go! Please don't go! Don't leave me! Don't go! Don't go! Don't go! Don't go! Don't go! Don't go!"_

"_That's enough! He's dead!" one of the teammates snapped._

_Tsunade froze upon hearing that. The one person that she could relate to, the one who she had grown close to, the one who she loved… was dead. And no matter what she tried, she could not stop the Grim Reaper from unjustly stealing him from her. She looked down at the sight before her. The dead body of her boyfriend, the massive amount of blood underneath him, his blood on her hands… it was all frightening to her. And so, her heart bleeding and her mind ruptured, she let out a cry full of despair._

* * *

><p>"So you see, Naruto… that was the day that changed her," Shizune finished, her voice full of grief. "She's been in torment ever since."<p>

The two boys were silent, looking down at the floor. Naruto then started walking towards the door. "Where're you going?" the black-haired woman asked.

"Out," the orange-clad boy answered without turning back. "I need to start training."

Twenty seconds after one of the boys left, the cat-boy stood up and walked towards the door as well. "I've gotta go train, too," he told. "I've got a Jutsu to master."

* * *

><p>The night after, Tsunade and Shizune were eating at a ramen stand. The greeting voice of the cook alerted them that someone had entered, and they turned their heads to see Jiraiya. "Funny finding you here," he said jovially.<p>

"Beat it. We're busy," the busty woman said coldly.

The old pervert smiled and said, "Don't be that way. You know you're glad to see me." He then turned his attention towards the black-haired woman. "Shizune… would you mind leaving us alone for a while? It's been years since we've sat down together."

Shizune complied and left the stand. Once a few feet away, she looked back at the two of them. _Thank you… Master Jiraiya, _she thought, bowing in gratitude before walking further away.

After Jiraiya had ordered the house special and some alcohol, he decided to engage his fellow sannin in a serious conversation. "I have to say, I never imagined that you'd still have that necklace after all these years," he said. "I'd just assumed you would have gambled it away long before now. I guess it's all you have to remember them by." As he took a sip of his drink, Tsunade remained silent, which piqued his curiosity. "Is he on your mind?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

He gave her a smirk and glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Naruto, of course," he answered.

"Not much," she answered back.

"I don't know. Taking on a young kid like that as an opponent… He'll never be able to master that Jutsu in a week, and you know it. It's not much of a bet." He turned his gaze away. "Why so glum, anyway?" he asked.

"Who's glum? I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.

"When are you meeting with Orochimaru again?" Knowing that she was about to ask how he knew, he told, "I can see it in Shizune's face. I don't know what sort of deal he may have offered you, but think carefully before accepting it. _Very _carefully. Remember the Hokages that have come before and all that they've accomplished for Konoha – it's only thanks to them that the village has survived, even prospered, through troubled times. This was their dream… and they were all willing to gamble everything to achieve it – even their lives."

They turned to look at each other. "Betray that dream, and you make all their sacrifices meaningless." The Toad Sage then shook his head. "Why am I saying this? Could you do such a thing?" He gave her a very serious stare. "If I thought you could… I would stop you right here and now."

She broke eye contact and looked down at her food. "It has nothing to do with me anymore," she stated.

"A person who feels nothing at the deaths of those close to him is no different than a butcher. But you're not like that – there was no one who cared more for the village or felt its pain more deeply. I remember the day…"

"Okay, that's enough of the lecture!" she snapped, forcing her eyes shut. "That dumb kid… why did you bring him here?"

Jiraiya's eyes turned soft and a smile grew on his lips. "They're a lot alike," he said. "They must be almost the same age."

Tsunade knew he was referring to her little brother. But in her eyes, they were not only alike in age, but also in spirit, personality, and determination. _They're more alike than you know…_ she thought.

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><p>dopliss: And now for something special. Since I am unable to answer this story's latest review, I'm going to respond to it here.<p>

Mizuki: So, Jonathan Lobo, if you're reading this, this is for you.

dopliss: You see, I don't plan on my OCs to alter the story to great lengths – just a few tweaks here and there. And I can't really think of a better outcome that would both make this story likeable and remain in the canon storyline. Also, it doesn't really matter to me if people take this story seriously or not – if they want to laugh at it or think of it as nothing, they can do that just fine. Lastly, I and many others like Naruto as, in your words, a 'moron and loyal idiot', and I don't think turning him into anything different would make him a better character without entering Mary Sue territory.

Mizuki: Basically, he's piss-scared of stepping too much outside the boundaries of canon.

dopliss: (grumbling) Jerk!


	68. Chapter 68 Tsunade's choice

**dopliss: Hey, y'all! Here's the next chapter and a greeting.**

**Mizuki: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all readers!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy your Christmas.**

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><p>"What's it going to be?" Kabuto asked.<p>

He stood in front of the chair that his boss currently occupied and next to a table with a dozen of jars with biological objects and parts of creatures – clearly either something for research or ingredients for a potion or poison. "If she agrees to our proposition, then your arms will be healed," he continued, "and you can proceed with your plan to destroy Konoha… and Lady Tsunade is reunited with the two people she loves most. But if she should say no… what then?"

Orochimaru had a smirk on his face that just gleamed with confidence and smugness. "Then I'd simply use force to bend her to my way of thinking," he answered.

Kabuto raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You really think it would be that easy?" he asked.

"That's what _you're _for." His smirk grew a little wider when he saw his underling's mouth curl upwards. "No need to worry… In the entire world, there is no one who knows Tsunade better than I – including her greatest weakness. She'll agree to the proposition – I guarantee it."

* * *

><p>The week went by with Naruto training nonstop near an open field, Torabu training somewhere else, and Tsunade deeply considering her choice.<p>

It was now Sunday night, and Naruto lay face-down on the ground, his body both soaked in sweat and completely numb, and his consciousness slowly fading. "It's no use…" he sighed as he tried and failed to get up. "Why can't I do it…?" He sighed again and slowly closed his eyes. "It's too late… Running out of time…"

Nearby, a nosy Shizune peered out from behind a big rock, curious about the orange-clad boy's training. Once she laid her eyes on the field, she gasped. Other than the unconscious boy, the surrounding trees were all completely torn up and ripped apart, spirals cut all over their surfaces. "Naruto! Are you all right?!" she exclaimed as she ran up to check on him.

* * *

><p>Tsunade sighed and took a sip of her sake. She had originally planned on spending the night in her room deeply considering what she should say to Orochimaru when she met him again, but then Jiraiya had knocked on her door and invited her out for a drink. And so, the two of them now sat next to each other at the local ramen stand.<p>

"Unless I'm wrong, the week you gave Naruto is up tomorrow, isn't it?" he said carelessly. When he got no vocal response, he looked away and smirked to himself. "I wonder where he is… I haven't seen him in days."

"Beats me," Tsunade coldly replied and refilled her cup.

Jiraiya then decided to quench not only his thirst, but also his hunger. "I think I'll have something to eat," he said to the cook. "Bring me the special, will ya?"

"Ditto here!"

The Toad Sage turned his head in the direction of the new voice to find a familiar face. "Oh, hey there, Takai," he greeted kindly. "Where've you been these last few days?"

Takai giggled and answered, "Training outside town, visiting the local booze shacks – stuff I wanted to." She took a seat next to him and looked at the busty woman on his other side. "And this must be Tsunade, I take it?"

He nodded and turned to grab his plate of buns. "She sure is. I've invited her out for a drink, but you're welcome to join us."

And with that said, the old man and the fiery female began eating their orders and drinking sake. Little did they know, however, that Tsunade had slipped something in the alcohol when they were not looking…

* * *

><p>Shizune had brought the unconscious Naruto back to her and her mistress's hotel room and had laid him down on one of the beds. She then waited outside, keeping a lookout for when Tsunade returned. Once she did, the black-haired woman showed her the boy and wanted her to check up on him.<p>

After Tsunade had spent ten minutes checking Naruto's condition and wrapping his right hand in bandages, Shizune asked, "How is he doing?"

"He's collapsed from exhaustion," the gambling sannin answered, "and his right hand is severely burned from concentrated chakra. He's out of it – he won't wake up until the day after tomorrow, at the earliest." As she looked down at the orange-clad boy, she felt a strong pang of guilt in her heart. "Old Jiraiya was right about me. To think that I've sunk so low, I'd bet against a kid…" She shook her head and scoffed. "What am I getting so torn up about? It's _his _problem, not mine."

Shizune narrowed her eyes darkly. "…And tomorrow?" she asked. "Please tell me you're not going tomorrow." She got no response, which infuriated her. "Why don't you answer? Say something! Lady Tsunade, answer me! I _need_ to know!" Her expression visibly darkened. "…Because if you tell me you're going…"

"What, then?" the busty woman asked without turning around to face her assistant.

"I will try and stop you… even if it costs me my life!"

Tsunade then slowly turned around to glare at the black-haired woman through dangerous, narrowed eyes. "Shizune… Have you forgotten who you're talking to?!"

In the timespan of two seconds, Tsunade had walked up to Shizune, struck her with a well-placed right hand to the stomach, and left the hotel room, leaving her assistant unconscious.

* * *

><p>As the sun rose up and signaled the start of the new week, Orochimaru and Kabuto were leaping through the treetops, heading for Tanzoku Town. "It's important that nothing interferes with these negotiations," the former told the latter.<p>

His flunky glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and asked, "Your point being?"

The snake-man smirked at his companion. "Tsunade's companion could be trouble. I'd feel better if she was dead…"

Kabuto took out a kunai and leapt off in another direction. Meanwhile, he was thinking deeply about this whole situation. Orochimaru has a limited amount of trust in him, which was proven when he tasked him to take care of Sasuke. But, there was also that little idea in his head, that he could betray his lord at any moment – especially now, what with his arms' current condition.

The question is, could he really betray and attempt to assassinate Orochimaru?

* * *

><p>As Shizune slowly opened her eyes, Naruto's face came into view and his voice rung in her ears. "Where the heck am I?" he asked.<p>

When her mind regained its focus, she bolted upright in panic. If Naruto was awake… how much time had passed? "Naruto – what time is it?!" she demanded, her voice dripping with worry. "What day is it today?! What day?! What time?!"

The orange-clad boy was confused at her shocked behavior. "It's Monday morning," he casually answered.

At the information that not even twelve hours had passed since she was knocked out, her mind was instantly focused on another fact: Naruto has woken up way earlier than Tsunade had expected. "It's amazing…" she breathed, her eyes wide in surprise. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? You were supposed to be out of it for two whole days at least."

"Not a chance!" Naruto scoffed with a smirk as he unwrapped the bandages on his right hand. "No matter how beat up I get, just gimme a good night's sleep and I'm right back at the top of my game!" He flexed his fingers and clenched his right hand into a fist. "Besides, I've got a date to keep with that rotten old witch, Tsunade!" His smirk grew wider and excitement shone in his eyes. "Today's the day I wipe that smirk off her face!"

This piqued Shizune's curiosity. "So, did you master the Jutsu?" she asked, eyebrows raised in anticipation.

"Err…" Naruto trailed off, his own smirk, ironically, slowly fading from his lips. "No, not completely… But close enough! I'll just have to wing it and I'll be fine."

She could not help but laugh at his plan to improvise mastery over the Rasengan; however, it was a short-lived one, as her stomach began to ache badly – an aftermath of the blow that knocked her unconscious. Remembering about that little event and that her mistress might already have met with Orochimaru, she quickly got up on her feet and ran for the window, ordering the boy, "Stay here, Naruto!"

But before she could leap out of the window that she hurriedly opened, a kunai whizzed past her head and into a nearby downspout. She turned her head to search for the one who threw it and gasped in shock. Naruto, curious, went over to look outside the window, and was also shocked. Standing a few feet away on the roof was a panting and exhausted Jiraiya, slumped against the wall and holding an unconscious Takai under his left arm.

"She… She poisoned us…" he breathed.

A few minutes later, they were back inside the room, Takai lying on the bed, Jiraiya and Naruto sitting on the floor near the window, and Shizune getting a glass and pitcher of water. "Double-crossing little vixen…!" the Toad Sage spat. "She must've spiked our drink when we weren't looking…! I can't build up any chakra… My body is so weak, I don't even think I can throw a kunai straight."

The black-haired woman glared at the old man out of the corner of her eyes. _Straight enough to nearly kill me… _she thought dryly.

The old pervert then glanced at the unconscious woman lying on the bed. "I can't remember how much she drank," he stated, "but either she got a bigger dose than me, or she's knocked out longer because she's weaker than I. In any case, her condition is stable; we just have to leave he be."

"Great, Pervy Sage!" Naruto yelled angrily. "And you're always going on about what a 'great' ninja you are! What, did you get distracted by her pretty face?!"

"Shut up!" Jiraiya snapped back. He then calmed down and looked at the floor. "She possesses a healer's knowledge of herbs and elixirs. I should've known better… Only Tsunade can whip up a knockout drug that even a ninja couldn't detect. But still, to be caught off-guard like that… I must be losing my touch."

Shizune brought him the glass and poured it full with water. The old man did not waste any time and drank all of it. "Are you feeling better now, Master Jiraiya?" she asked after his third glass.

"I suppose so, compared to how I felt before," he answered as he got a refill. "I'm back to maybe thirty percent."

Eavesdropping from outside the window, Kabuto frowned. _I wasn't expecting to find Jiraiya the Mountain Sage… That's more than I bargained for, _he thought, gritting his teeth. _I may have to rethink this. And Naruto… to think you'd be here, too…_

As Orochimaru's lackey quickly left, Jiraiya could notice his presence fading. He paid it no mind and glared at the black-haired woman. "Okay, Shizune," he said in a no-nonsense tone, "it's time you told us about your mistress and Orochimaru. What kind of deal are they making?"

Shizune paled when the question was delivered to her, and she hung her head in shame. "I never imagined she would go through with it…" she replied. "That's why I… I didn't say anything about it before. But now…" She pressed a hand against her aching stomach and did her best to ignore the pain as she stood up. "There's no time to lose! You must come with me, quickly! I'll explain on the way!"

* * *

><p>Tsunade had returned to the spot near Tanzoku Castle where she punched a giant hole in the wall, facing one of the two ways to go, waiting for Orochimaru to show up. After much waiting, she heard footsteps coming from behind her and then stopping. "Well? What's your answer?" Orochimaru asked.<p>

She did not turn around to face him – she just stood there, still like a statue, thinking her decision twice over one last time. After ten minutes, she replied. "I will heal your arms… but in exchange, you keep your hands off the village."

He narrowed his eyes playfully and chuckled. "…Very well."

She saw Nawaki and Dan standing in front of her, smiling warmly at her… at least she will see them once this is over.

* * *

><p>"You can't be serious!" Naruto exclaimed in disgust, having heard the whole story. "The answer has to be 'no'! At least it better be!"<p>

As the orange-clad boy, Shizune and Jiraiya leapt through the treetops, heading for Tanzoku Castle, the woman stated worriedly, "Once his arms are healed, he's going to destroy Konoha!"

"Of course, that's just what I'd expect!" Jiraiya replied through gritted teeth. "And trust me; he'll do far more than that if we don't manage to stop him somehow!" _So… things ARE worse than I thought. Could it be that the loss of those two has clouded her judgment? You give me no choice, Tsunade… If I have to kill you, I will._

* * *

><p>"Shall we?" Orochimaru said as he slowly walked towards his fellow sannin.<p>

Tsunade turned around and slowly moved towards the snake-man, as well. The tension in the air was incredibly heavy, and the blowing wind made it grow heavier by the second. Once they were within an arm's length of each other, she took his boneless arms and placed them on a waist-high piece of the destroyed wall. She then brought her hands close together, and a sphere of chakra gathered between them, billowing like a bonfire's flame. She then slowly – ever so slowly – moved it closer to the damaged arms…

The two of them suddenly tensed and leapt backwards away from each other, avoiding a kunai thrown at them. Both of them glared up at the thrower and spotted Kabuto kneeling on top of one of the taller walls. He backflipped along the wall and then leapt off of it, landing a few feet behind Orochimaru and glaring dangerously at him.

Orochimaru looked the opposite way of his crony, a scowl on his face. "What is the meaning of this?!" he demanded, voice dripping with poison. "Am I to understand you've really come here to betray me…" His pupils narrowed dangerously and the veins in his eyes became more distinct. "…_Tsunade_?!"

* * *

><p>dopliss: Pretty short chapter, I know, but the following three will make up for it. Hell yeah, baby – enough with the backstory and drama crap, and time for some action-packed fighting scenes!<p>

Mizuki: Which you suck at writing.

dopliss: (depressed) Dude… did you _have _to ruin my mood when it's so close to Christmas?


	69. Chapter 69 Good versus evil, part 1

**dopliss: Here you go, guys. This is the final chapter of this story… for the year 2012. Wow… hard to believe another year's passed, huh?**

**Mizuki: And you're only halfway through with the two stories.**

**dopliss: Indeed. So, my readers, you'd better expect me to begin writing the third story sometime in January 2013.**

**Disclaimer: I've said it in 2011, and this is the last time I say it in 2012: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

><p>"So <em>that's <em>your answer, Tsunade?" Orochimaru asked in the tone of a disappointed father, glaring at her. "After all I've offered you… you would repay by trying to kill me? Fortunately, I can depend on Kabuto's loyalty." He glanced back at his right-hand man who stood behind him. "A good thing you arrived in time to see the evil intent in those healing hands of hers."

"Yes," Kabuto agreed. "She and I are from the medical core. I could tell she was building up chakra for an attack."

The snake-man turned his gaze back on the busty woman and gave a long sigh. "Tsunade, Tsunade… And I was going to restore your loved ones to you… I even agreed to give up my dream of destroying Konoha…"

"As to that, Orochimaru," she replied coldly, "I knew your promise to leave the village alone was worthless – a lie. But even so…" Her voice became shaky and her body quivered as she broke eye contact. "Even though I knew that… the chance to see them both one more time… to see them once more, if only for a moment… to be able to touch them… to feel them… just once more… to see their precious smiles…!"

Tears began slowly falling from her eyes. "I'm weak…! So weak that, for a moment, I would have sacrificed _everything_… just to see them again… just once…! For that, I was willing to throw away the village and the lives of everyone in it…!" Her tears flowed more freely and dripped down on the ground and on her necklace. "To think… that I could have been so blind…! But, the memory… it was the memory of their faces…!" She started sobbing. "I love them… I love them both so much…! The chance to see them again, to hold them in my arms…!"

The recent memories of Naruto then flowed through her mind. "But then… something happened. That boy… he made me remember something… something I've been trying to forget…" The words from when her brother and lover spoke their motivations, dreams and ambitions resounded in her mind, and she knew that Naruto was just like them. "_That's _what he made me remember… The dream they shared… the dream they gave their lives for and meant everything to them…"

She looked back up at her fellow sannin through eyes wet with tears. "You've said once that all things on Earth crumble and fade away. I wish that was true… I only wish this feeling would go away, but I know it never will."

Orochimaru was, more or less, indifferent with her emotional issues. "It seems we've reached an impasse," he stated coldly. "So be it. I'm afraid you give me no choice but to use force."

Tsunade closed her eyes and wiped them dry with the back of her right hand. And when she opened them again, she sent a deadly glare at her ally-turned-enemy. She ran towards him and his assistant, leapt into the air, raised her left leg, and struck with an axe kick that, when it it the ground, created a huge crater. Unfortunately, her targets jumped out of harm's way and landed on one of the nearby walls.

Once the dust settled, she glared right up at him, a vicious scowl on her face. "Come on, Orochimaru!" she challenged.

The snake-man gave a short laugh. "It's amazing that in all this time, you and I have never actually met in combat," he stated.

"That's right!" The gambling sannin ripped her jacket off and rushed towards the two villains.

"Don't get your hopes up," Kabuto warned coolly. "You still have to go through me."

"No matter! It'll be a pleasure killing you both, right now!"

Orochimaru and his companion leapt backwards onto a tree branch when the busty woman punched the wall that they were standing on into oblivion. "She hasn't lost any of her strength," he commented. "It won't go well for you if she connects."

"I can see that," Kabuto replied. "This is not the battlefield I would've chosen; it's too crammed here."

The snake-man looked at his cohort out of the corner of his eye. "A change of scenery?" he asked.

"Yes. I think a change would be wise. When I found her attendant, she was with someone who might prove troublesome to us. They could be here any minute."

The two villains dodged a vicious kick from Tsunade and leapt off the branch as she effortlessly snapped it off. As they began relocating to a better battlefield, Orochimaru asked, "This troublesome someone… who is it?"

"One of the sannin, same as you," Kabuto answered, and that was all the information his boss needed to figure out who.

Tsunade glared as she saw her targets make a run for it. _Oh no, you don't! _she thought. _I'm going to finish this!_

* * *

><p>Torabu leapt from rooftop to rooftop, done with his training for the day. He landed on the balcony at his hotel room and entered. "Honey, I'm home!" he announced jokingly. But when he took a look around, he found no one else in the room. "Weird… Takai usually trains by night, if what she told me is true." He scratched his left ear in wonder. "Where could she be?"<p>

He then decided to ask his friends if they had seen her. He walked out into the hallway, found Naruto's and Jiraiya's room, and tossed his manners out the window by barging in. "Naruto? Old man?" he called when he found that room to be empty as well. "Where is everyone?"

"Out to take care of some trouble."

The troublemaking ninja turned around to find the owner of the familiar voice. Fukigen stood in the doorway, frowning. "And from the looks of it, they're taking care of huge troubles," the Bakeneko added.

The cat-boy raised an eyebrow and asked, "You know something about this?"

The cat leapt down the hallway to the room belonging to Tsunade and Shizune and entered the door. When the boy followed, he was shocked by the sight of the fiery female lying unconscious on the bed, the cat standing next to her head. "She's been poisoned," he told. "It's not vital enough to threaten her, but she will be unconscious for a few hours."

Torabu calmed himself down and asked, "How do you know that?"

"Tonton told me."

Before the cat-boy could ask who this 'Tonton' was, a timid oink was heard, followed by Tsunade's red-jacket-clad pig crawling out from under the bed. He looked back up at the feline sensei and asked, "What else did he tell you?"

The cat frowned and turned his head to look out the window. "Naruto, Jiraiya and Shizune went off to Tanzoku Castle – or where it was, anyway – to stop Tsunade from making a terrible mistake."

Torabu smirked and looked at Tonton. "Thanks, piggy!" he said as he ran up to the window. "When we come back, I'll treat you to some tasty carrots!" And with that promise, he leapt out the window and across the rooftops. Seconds later, he frowned and narrowed his eyes. _What did he mean by a 'terrible mistake'? I've got a bad feeling about this…_

* * *

><p>At the ruins of Tanzoku Castle, Naruto, Jiraiya and Shizune looked around in surprise. "Whoa… What the heck happened here?" the orange-clad boy wondered.<p>

"Well, well…" the Toad Sage trailed off as he looked at the crater and broken walls. "I'd say something put Tsunade in a bad mood. She's got a _foul _temper, that girl."

_So… this must mean she refused him!_ Shizune thought in relief.

"Well, okay…" Naruto said as he walked up to the crater. "But, where's the grumpy old bat now?"

The black-haired woman saw something green lying in the crater and recognized it as her mistress's jacket. She picked it up and looked at the path of destruction that led away from the town. "This way!" she said and ran off, the young boy and the old man following behind her.

* * *

><p>The chase had finally stopped at a desolate wasteland, and Tsunade and Kabuto were both panting and glaring at each other, the former standing in a crater that she had made and the latter crouched down on a rock. Orochimaru, who stood a little behind his lackey, mockingly asked his fellow sannin, "Out of breath already? Well, none of us are getting any younger, are we?" He then addressed his minion. "Time to end it!"<p>

Kabuto regained his breath and reached into his pocket. "Taijutsu was never my forte, but…" he trailed off.

Tsunade watched as her four-eyed opponent took out a black food pill and ate it. After that, she gasped when she saw him do a specific set of hand-seals and then coated his hands in chakra. _So… he knows medical Ninjutsu as well, _she thought.

Kabuto then suddenly disappeared into the earth and came back up directly underneath the gambling sannin, ready to strike with his chakra-clad hands. She jumped out of harm's way and retaliated with a strong punch. He dodged the deadly attack and leapt away, making his opponent leap after him and strike at him with a flying kick when he came close to a big rock, to which he ducked under and let her smash through.

She then landed on another big rock and used it to leap back towards her opponent. But, to her unfortunate surprise, he ran up behind her, and when she twisted her body to land on her feet, he lightly tapped her right upper arm and left thigh. She landed and struck at him, which caused her to lose her balance and fall down on her knees, while Kabuto just leapt a good distance backwards, smirking.

Tsunade could feel a strange numbness and pain in her arm and leg and glared up at her opponent. Realizing that she had noticed the anomaly in her body, he decided to explain. "Yes," he said. "I weakened the muscles of your right bicep and your left thigh just enough so you won't be able to unleash that incredible strength of yours."

The busty woman glared at her opponent's chakra-clad hands. "A Chakra Scalpel, huh?" she assumed. "Well, then why not just go for the kill?"

Kabuto's smirk became full of smugness. "That's true. With this scalpel, I could sever an artery or puncture your heart without even breaking the skin – but, of course, that requires careful aim and a long blade, both of which difficult to accomplish in the heat of battle. But that said…!" He came rushing towards her and began throwing punches, which she did her best to dodge. "Perhaps if I just aim for your neck…!"

After a few more seconds of dodging, he managed to hit her in the middle of her chest with an open palm. Feeling pain in her chest and a lot of trouble breathing, she collapsed to her knees, wheezing for air. _He hit my intercostal! _she thought, alarmed. _Can't… breathe…! This kid's no ordinary medical ninja… I was never that quick or precise… even in my prime…_

Kabuto smirked down at her, brimming with confidence. "Have to avoid hitting anything too vital," he reprimanded as he closed his eyes, dispersed the chakra around his hands, and readjusted his glasses. "We don't want you dying just yet. Still, you're not going to be moving much anytime soon."

He found out seconds later that the last statement was dead wrong, as Tsunade quickly got up, ran up behind him, struck him in the neck, and sent him tumbling across the ground for several meters. Lying on his stomach, he turned his head to look back at her, his smirk wiped off. _I underestimated her, _he thought as he saw her collapse to her knees again. _She shouldn't still be conscious, let alone…_ He got to his knees and turned around to face her. _Alright, then… I guess I'll have to stop going easy on her. It'd be so much easier if I could just kill her._

But when his right arm reached for his kunai holster, his left leg quivered and moved a few inches. When he realized this oddity in his body, his eyes widened in horror. _No…! She couldn't have…!_

Tsunade came running up to her opponent and, with a cry of, "SURPRISE!" delivered a strong punch to his face, sending him several more meters rolling backwards. _I really hoped it worked… because that was about all I've got, _she thought, panting.

As Kabuto lay there on his stomach, he tried his hardest to get back up, only for his limbs to spasm awkwardly. _Nothing's responding right…_ he thought, _but it's not my muscles…!_

"I see you've finally figured it out," Tsunade panted. "It's your… whole nervous system. I turned my chakra… into electricity… then sent an electrical charge ripping through your body!"

Orochimaru smirked in amusement as he watched his companion manage to get on his knees. _She attacked his line of communication, scrambling the electrical impulses that carry messages from the brain to the different parts of the body, _he thought. _Cut off from the brain, his body doesn't know what to do. She's literally short-circuited him._

_To be capable of this in her condition… _Kabuto thought in awe, frowning. _But then… she is one of the legendary sannin._

Tsunade used the break her opponent's disabled body had given her to make hand-seals and place a hand glowing with healing chakra over her chest. _I don't have much chakra for a healing Jutsu, _she thought, _but I have to do what I can._

Meanwhile, Kabuto was focusing on what commands now moved what in his body. _Let's see… If I try to move my right hand, my left leg responds… and trying to move my left ankle, moves my right shoulder. _He kept moving his muscles at random as he got more and more focused on how to control his scrambled body. _It's tricky… but I think… Yes… I think I've figured out just what moves what. Thought you had me, didn't you?_

Tsunade's eyes widened when she saw her opponent quickly turn around, take a kunai out of its holster, and run towards her. _Impossible! _she thought in alarm. _He could never have recovered so quickly!_

"So, you fear the sight of blood, eh?!" Kabuto roared, raising his kunai above his head. "Let's put it to the test, shall we?!"

But before he could stab her, a smoke bomb exploded under her, causing him to back a few steps away. When the wind blew the smoke away, it revealed Naruto, Jiraiya and Shizune, standing protectively in front of Tsunade. Upon seeing the third member of the legendary sannin, Orochimaru gave a small smirk to Jiraiya. "It's been a long time… old friend," he greeted.

The Toad Sage smirked back. "Long time indeed – and I can't say it's improved your looks any, old friend," he replied.

Naruto then spotted Orochimaru's lackey and was taken aback. "K-Kabuto?!" he gasped.

Kabuto turned his head to look at the yellow-haired boy and gave a small smile. "Naruto," he greeted.

The old man turned his gaze at the four-eyed man. "You've met this guy before, Naruto?" he asked.

"Well, of course I have," the orange-clad boy answered. "We took the Chunin Exams together." He turned his attention back on the purple-clad youth in front of him. "What're you doing here, Kabuto?"

Tsunade had had enough of the interruption, so she knocked Jiraiya aside and struck at Kabuto with two kicks, one that he managed to dodge under and one that knocked the kunai out of his hand and into one of the nearby big rocks. "Stay out of this!" she snapped at those who she was on friendly terms with. She then focused her mind on Kabuto and began throwing punches. "So what if you recovered quickly? No matter! You're still not at a hundred percent!"

Kabuto did his best to dodge his opponent's attacks while moving backwards. After ten seconds of this, he found himself backed up against a rock. Fortunately for him, it was the same rock that his kunai was stuck in. He reached for it with his left hand and pulled it out just in time to see Tsunade throw another punch at him. Realizing that there was no way he could either avoid or counter her attack, he did the most unfair and cowardly thing that he could do in his situation: slit his right wrist on his kunai and make some drops of his blood spray on his opponent, causing her to freeze in fear.

With a sadistic smile on his face, he stated to his terrorized opponent, "Your Jutsu's worn off! Now I AM at a hundred percent! I knew that I would never be able to take on two of the legendary sannin at the same time…" He pocketed his kunai and reeled back his fist. "…but now, at least, I've got one down!" He threw a punch so strong that it sent Tsunade flying off the ground and into Shizune's arms.

Naruto just stared at Orochimaru's crony in bewilderment. "I-I don't get it. What's going on?" he asked. "I'm confused – did I miss out on something? How come Kabuto and Grandma Tsunade are brawling?"

Kabuto, panting a little from the blood loss, smiled evilly at the orange-clad boy and said, "I see you're as slow as ever, Naruto. No wonder you're no match for Sasuke."

"If you want your answer, just look at his headband," Jiraiya advised, crouched down on the ground. "He serves Orochimaru."

True to the Toad Sage's words, the mark of the village that Kabuto served was no longer that of Konoha, but that of the sound village. "That's right. I'm a spy from the hidden sound village," he confirmed.

Naruto was in shock when he heard that. "But… a spy? That's impossible!" he said in disbelief. "You don't… really mean it…?" His hopeful question was not answered. "But you… you helped us get through the Chunin Exams! You saved our lives!"

"Only in order to gather information about all of you – that was my mission," Kabuto replied coolly. "Indeed. I learned one very important thing – about you, Naruto: you lack any ninja ability. You're not a bit like Sasuke." Those remarks angered the orange-clad boy, and he knew it.

Shizune covered Tsunade in her own jacket like it was a blanket and looked with concerned eyes at her shivering form. _I've never seen her like this – never, _she thought as she began wiping the blood off her mistress's face with a pink handkerchief. "You don't have to do everything by yourself, you know," she stated reassuringly. "Let me help… I'm here to serve you."

Kabuto continued to mock the boy in front of him. "Go on, glare at me all you want; you're still just a pintsized genin who's in way over his head," he stated. "I admit that the demon inside of you had me worried for a time, but surrounded by the three legendary sannin, I see how insignificant you are. Next to them, you're a mere child sitting at the grownups table. Stay out of this… or die."

That was about all that Naruto could take. Filled with fury, he dashed towards Kabuto and created three clones of himself, planning on striking from all sides and then attacking from his right side, where his defenses were weak. Unfortunately, the purple-clad youth proved his superiority in close quarters combat by dodging one clone, kicking another away, dodging and restraining the final clone's arm, and spraying more of his blood on the real Naruto's eyes, blinding him.

Kabuto then followed up by causing one of the clones to disappear by kicking it, jumping over a leg sweep from another clone and taking it out by throwing a kunai at it, blocking an attack from the final clone, grabbing it, and throwing it into Naruto, causing both the clone to disappear and sending the orange-clad boy flying. Shizune caught him and used her arm-mounted slingshot to fire two poison-coated needles at Kabuto, whose reflexes had not recovered completely after being scrambled, but he made the projectiles bounce off harmlessly from the metal plate in his headband.

Kabuto leapt back over to his superior's side and painted heavily from the blood loss. Shizune saw him take out another black food pill and frowned as he ate it. "A plasma pill…" she muttered.

Naruto overheard her as he wiped the blood off his face. "Plasma pill?" he asked.

"Well, of course," Jiraiya replied, standing up. "He's trying to replace the blood that he's already lost."

"We can't have too much blood, can we, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked rhetorically.

The purple-clad youth smirked at his boss and took out a kunai. "Lord Orochimaru… isn't it about time we take the bandages off your arms?" he asked. Upon getting a confirming nod in response, he cut a little off the bandages, causing the rest of them to unwrap and fall to the ground, revealing Orochimaru's boneless, corroding arms for everyone to see.

"Now we can finally get down to business," the Toad Sage stated. "Shizune – I'll let you take care of four-eyes over there. Just leave Orochimaru to me."

And so, the two teams stared each other down, ready to dish out the deadliest knuckle sandwiches in the refrigerator that is their arsenal of Jutsus and weapons.

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><p>dopliss: I know the little food metaphor at the end was kinda stupid, but so was the fact that, in the anime, Shizune <em>spat <em>the needles at Kabuto. Seriously, who would be crazy enough to put sharp objects covered in poison in their mouth just for the sake of spitting them at their opponents? You would die the moment you stick 'em in your yap.

Mizuki: Be that as it may, I hope you enjoyed the action-packed last chapter of this story for the year 2012, folks. Happy New Years!


	70. Chapter 70 Good versus evil, part 2

**dopliss: Hey, y'all, and welcome to my first update for 2013! I'm sorry for not having updated the last two weeks, but I've been busy with a very important project.**

**Mizuki: Playing videogames and going to the movies don't count.**

**dopliss: Not that, you ass. What I've been busy with is… writing the first two chapters of the upcoming story three! Considering I spent two weeks on them—**

**Mizuki: That means he either put a lot of effort into them or, most likely, he was too lazy to write them faster.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Nestea or Nickelodeon or nothing or nuthin' or nythin'…**

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><p>Naruto was glaring dangerously at Orochimaru, who was smiling smugly at his fellow sannin. "So <em>that's <em>Orochimaru…" he thought aloud.

"Shizune," Jiraiya addressed, "there's just one thing. I need Tsunade to do something about my body before we get started here."

"It may be a while before the full effect of that drug completely leaves your system," Shizune stated. "I'm very sorry, but it can't be helped, Master Jiraiya."

The Toad Sage reacted by widening his eyes and shouting, "What?! You've gotta be kidding!" He then calmed down and gave a minor smirk to the snake-man. "Oh well... what can you do, right? I'll just have to face him as I am." Then he spoke to the paralyzed sannin behind him. "Tsunade… use your recovery Jutsu and rest."

"What about me? What should _I _do?!" Naruto asked the old man.

"Don't do anything," was the answer. "You just stand guard over Tsunade, okay?"

But the orange-clad boy would not miss out on the action. "Come on! I wanna fight this guy! He's got to pay for what he did!"

"Forget about it!" Jiraiya snapped, causing the boy to shut up. "That jerk with the glasses is right; you're in over your head. Our opponent is one of the sannin, like me, and the man who killed the Third Hokage. This is an eye for an eye! I am the only one who can fight Orochimaru! And four-eyes over there can go toe-to-toe with Kakashi if he had to."

"Don't worry! Not a problem!" Naruto replied and mad a hand-seal. "Shadow Clone—!"

"Hold on, Naruto," Jiraiya interrupted. "Your clones won't work here. You needn't bother; there isn't any point. It wouldn't even be a decent diversion. You'd be wasting your chakra. They're a dangerous pair." He then turned his attention to the villainous duo in front of him. "Now then… how about we get this thing started?"

Using some of the blood from the cut on his wrist, Kabuto drew a line across a tattoo on his boss's left arm and began making hand-seals. Jiraiya, meanwhile, bit a hole in his right thumb, smeared the blood on his left palm, and also made hand-seals. Pushing their hands against the ground, both ninjas used their Summoning Jutsu. Kabuto summoned two snakes big enough to have ten people stand on one of their heads, which both he and his master stood on.

Jiraiya summoned… Gamakichi, the orange toad Naruto accidentally summoned when fighting Gaara. "What's up?" he greeted.

The Toad Sage and the orange-clad boy were less than pleased with the result of the Summoning Jutsu. "What the…?! Why are _you _here?! What happened to your father?!" the former demanded, freaking out.

"Hey-hey! Long time no see!"

Shizune frowned at this. _Master Jiraiya can't build up enough chakra because of the drug… _she thought grimly.

Orochimaru looked down at his opponents with amusement sparkling in his eyes as he chuckled at the scene. "Well, Jiraiya… still playing the fool, I see," he said. "You always were ridiculous, but this time you've outdone yourself. Clearly our Tsunade has gotten to you somehow."

"Your Jutsu _did _require a sacrifice. Perhaps she was thinking ahead, drugging him somehow to suppress his power," Kabuto theorized.

The snake-man smirked wider. "To think, she would make a sacrifice of Jiraiya… Well, just as ruthless as ever, aren't you, Tsunade?"

The old man gritted his teeth in annoyance. _Well, how do you like that…? He's already spotted my weakness, _he thought.

"You're as big a disgrace as the day we met," Orochimaru laughed.

Naruto became fed up with the villain's trash-talking. _That's it! I'm not gonna let that guy stand there and mock Pervy Sage! _he thought as he gave the Summoning Jutsu a shot.

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow when he saw the orange-clad boy. "That's the nine-tailed brat from the Chunin Exam…" he remembered. "I suppose I should've killed him when I had the opportunity. For the sake of the Akatsuki and their goals, I let the boy slip by. But the only ones ever capable of breaking the Five-Pronged Seal were the Third Hokage and we of the legendary sannin…"

"That may be, but Jiraiya _is _training the boy," Kabuto stated.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as they locked on the dissolving cloud of smoke. "You could be right. If he's learned to wield the power of the Kyubi, it's not impossible."

The dust settled, and the being that Naruto had summoned… was not Gamabunta. Instead, it was a chubby yellow toad with orange markings and the same size and vest as Gamakichi. "…But that doesn't appear to be the case," Orochimaru added.

"He never had any skill as a ninja to begin with," Kabuto chuckled.

Naruto was in disbelief over his flop. "Where the heck did I go wrong?!" he shouted.

"Hi, everybody!" the yellow toad greeted cheerfully in a high-pitched voice. "Hey, friend, how are you?"

"Hey, Gamatatsu! Why did _you _pop out? Where's the old man?" Gamakichi demanded.

The yellow toad, apparently named Gamatatsu, smiled and turned to the orange toad. "Gamakichi! What's going on?" he merrily greeted. "This is the first time anyone's ever summoned me! I'm finally getting a chance to shine!"

"You dummy!" the orange toad groaned. "Get some munchies and go find a place to hide, would ya?"

"Wait, they've got snacks here?! Gee whiz! This is the coolest!"

That was the point where the villains decided to make the first move. "Let's begin," Orochimaru said as both snakes reeled back and then thrust towards their opponents. "I want you to leave Jiraiya to me. The rest are yours to play with as you will."

"Now, that is a shame," Kabuto replied, smirking. "I've been hoping to test my mettle against one of the sannin."

The snakes' heads collided with the ground, sending pieces of rocks flying around them. Fortunately, Naruto, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune (who was carrying the other woman), and the toads all leapt out of harm's way. Unfortunately for the black-haired woman, Kabuto intercepted her in midair and punched her hard across the face, sending her and her mistress careening onto the ground. Naruto tried to close in on the spectacled man, but one of the snakes intercepted him and ate him.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted in worry as he rode an airborne piece of ground.

"You're dealing with _me, _old friend!" Orochimaru said as the snake he rode on closed in on the old man.

The Toad Sage turned to face the snake-man and made hand-seals. "No problem! Earth Style: Dark Swamp!"

The snakes suddenly stopped moving as the ground beneath them turned into a big lake of mud, pulling them down like quicksand. Jiraiya landed on the head of the snake Orochimaru was on and growled, "Oh, great! This bog is way too small! It's not deep enough to sink them!" He then turned to look at his fellow sannin. "It's not a total loss, though; these snakes aren't going anywhere in this state."

Shizune used her slingshot device to fire five needles at Kabuto, but he dodged them and struck her in the chest with a chakra-clad right hand. While flying backwards from the blow, she cried, "Ninja Art: Poison Fog!" and exhaled a huge purple cloud.

_One inhalation of this, and I'm a dead man! _Kabuto thought as the fog neared him.

When the fog cleared, Shizune saw no trace of her opponent. But before she knew better, she felt a pair of hands grab her ankles, followed by pain as her tendons broke. She fell to her knees as Kabuto rose up from the ground underneath her and smirked evilly down at her.

Meanwhile, Naruto was far from being eaten. Pushing his physical strength to its limits, he separated the corner of the snake's lips. "I am _not _letting you eat me a second time!" he swore as he leapt out of the reptile's mouth. The snake then decided that its snack was not tender enough, so it smacked the orange-clad boy into a big rock.

"Get ready…" Orochimaru said tauntingly as he ran towards Jiraiya and extended his own throat.

The Toad Sage, in response, made hand-seals that caused his hair to become spiky and hard to the point of being of same consistency as needles. "Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!" he cried and made his hair surround him, like a hedgehog defending itself with its spines.

However, the snake-man purposely impaled his left foot on the needle wall in order to pull it slightly away, leaving his opponent open to a bit to the neck. "Even if we are both impaired, you haven't a chance of beating me," he stated. "You might as well give up already."

Kabuto defeated Shizune with one last punch across the face, causing some blood to fly out of her mouth. A drop of it landed on Tsunade's cheek, which caused the gambling sannin to be even more afraid than she already was. Seeing her attendant lying unconscious on the ground and Naruto damaged from the snake's attack, she was forcefully reminded of how she last saw her brother and lover lied the day they died.

As panic skyrocketed up in her, Kabuto walked up to her and slowly reached out to her. Not thinking straight, she slapped his hand away. "What a tragedy," he said, frowning down at her. "I had only the utmost respect for you as a fellow medical ninja."

"Stay back! Get away from me!" Tsunade shrieked.

"Oh please, get a hold of yourself, Lady Tsunade. Else the name of sannin, of which Lord Orochimaru is counted, weeps for shame." He then began violently kicking her, like a coward.

Orochimaru, though he was just as exhausted as his opponent, smirked down at the panting Jiraiya. "Look at you… They used to call you the 'town madman', and now you're flooding along dutifully for the village with this brat in tow," he said. "You've really fallen off, haven't you? Trust me… I've always had a good eye for talent." He cut a glare in Naruto's direction. "With that one… all I see is insipid mediocrity."

"You hit the nail on the head," Jiraiya agreed, giving a small smirk. "But what would I want with the Uchiha kid? Tell me, where's the fun in teaching a boy who's already a genius to begin with?"

Orochimaru chuckled. "How touching. You're drawn to him because he reminds you of your old self, is that it? That brat of yours could never beat Uchiha, born as he was into the ninja art of Sharingan. Without a Sharingan, poor Naruto hasn't a chance of surpassing him. A ninja's strength blesses upon his ability to obtain and master all the Jutsus of this world. The very reason we're called 'ninjas' is because of the many Ninjutsu arts that we wield."

"You're wrong," the Toad Sage said, frowning. "That's not what makes a ninja. You never did get it. A _real _ninja is one who endures no matter what gets thrown at him."

The snake-man just shrugged at the response. "A difference of opinions, I suppose," he said.

"Let me explain something to you. There's only one thing that matters if you're a ninja, and it's _not _the number of Jutsus you possess."

Kabuto thought that now would be the time to deliver the knockout punch to Tsunade, so he reeled back his right fist and then struck. But, unexpectedly, Naruto stepped between him and the sannin just in time, taking the blow to his forehead. Even as blood ran down his face, the orange-clad boy glared daggers at the spectacled man. "Back off!" he hissed. "That's enough already, you traitor!"

"All you _do _need is the guts to never give up," Jiraiya finished. "And the kid has got that in spades."

Naruto intended on taking Kabuto out with one blow, so he gathered his chakra into his hands and formed a sphere in his right hand. Unfortunately, though, Kabuto dodged the imperfect Rasengan and tapped the orange-clad boy on his right thigh with his Chakra Scalpel, causing him to fall flat on his face. _I don't know what Jutsu you learned, _he thought as he turned around to glare smugly down at the downed boy, _but you'll need to be more subtle than that if you wanna hit me._

Naruto winced in pain as he clutched his right thigh with both hands. _It's no use, _he thought. _I'm not gonna be able to hit a moving target! And I still can't hold in all the chakra yet!_

"It looks like you fractioned a thighbone in your right leg during you little struggle with the serpent," Kabuto stated in false worry. "If it was only the bone, you could still move – but it's beyond that now. I've severed the lateral vastus muscle in your right leg as well."

Naruto glared back at his opponent. _What do I do?! I need both hands for this Jutsu! If he gets even one of my arms, it's over!_

Kabuto chuckled evilly at the sight of worry in his opponent's eyes. "What's the matter? Are you frightened? Hope you don't feel like running away." He then took one of his Ninja Info Cards and looked at it. "Naruto… As I remember, you were nothing but big talk during the Chunin Exam." He then began reading a few sentences on the card. "'Don't underestimate me! I don't run away! I don't care if I'm a genin for the rest of my life; you guys aren't going to scare me off! I'll still be Hokage someday!'" He put the card away. "So… where's all your big talk now?"

Tsunade stared with wide eyes as she remembered all that Naruto had said, all the determination he had shown, during their first encounter. She focused on how frighteningly similar he was to her little brother, in spirit and in personality.

"You're not a kid anymore – you do not wanna shoot your mouth off like that," Kabuto continued. "Admit when you're in over your head. Sometimes it's better to run away." As he walked up to the boy, he could see his eyes twitching. "Come now… what's the matter? Why such a look? If I kill you… you can kiss your dreams goodbye. Little kids think life is so easy… That's why they're always going on and on about their dreams. _That's _why they never give up."

Feeling sadistic, Kabuto began kicking the downed Naruto. "They go chasing after some stupid dream… and they die!"

Having had enough, Naruto blocked his opponent's foot and grabbed it. Still glaring daggers at the spectacled man, he pushed him away and slowly got back on his feet. "That's enough!" he growled. "I'm not gonna run away! I never go back on my word! That's my ninja way!"

Kabuto, however, was unfazed by the boy's determination. "You should've stayed out of this, Naruto," he said and knocked his opponent on the right side of his head, sending him rolling to a halt right in front of the busty woman.

Tsunade stared in awe as Naruto struggled to get back up. His determination and moxie baffled her. "What're you doing?" she asked.

Against all odds, Naruto succeeded in getting back on his feet. "Alright… Grandma…" he said as he made hand-seals. "Get ready to pay up on our bet! That cursed necklace of yours is about to be mine!"

Tsunade became extremely worried for the boy in front of her as he made a single clone appear on his right. "Enough! Naruto, you don't have to protect me!" she shouted. "Stop, already!"

"Still haven't had enough, I see…" Kabuto growled as he took out a kunai with his right hand and ran towards his opponent. "I warned you not to be stubborn. Now you die! You've just thrown it all away! Dreams don't come true when you're dead!"

"Just get out of the way, Naruto!" Tsunade pleaded panicky. "NO! LOOK OUT!"

Naruto just smirked. "Don't you worry about me," he replied. Instead of dodging the attempted stab, he grabbed the kunai-wielding hand with his left and restrained his opponent, even as the blade cut him between his fingers. "Until I become Hokage, I don't care what happens; I am _not _gonna die!"

The clone then made hand-seals and quickly moved his hands over Naruto's free right hand, gathering chakra and shaping it in a sphere. "Now I see…" Tsunade muttered, breathless. "He made his clone gather his chakra. Ingenious!"

"Okay… let's see you dodge me this time!" Naruto growled as he delivered a perfect, fully powered Rasengan right to Kabuto's stomach. "_**RASENGAN!**_" The attack was delivered with so much force that it even created a sphere of destruction around Kabuto as he was sent flying backwards into a big rock, tearing the ground underneath him up and making the rest of the ground tremble.

When the dust settled, Tsunade stared with wide eyes and an open mouth at the scene before her; there was a panting Naruto, a trail carved through the ground, a rock with a perfectly round crater in it, and a badly-wounded and panting Kabuto with blood oozing out his damaged stomach. _It's… impossible… but he did it! _she thought. _He actually mastered the Rasengan in one week!_

Naruto first felt exhausted, but then he felt worse and worse for each passing second. Eventually he coughed up blood, his vision began to blur, and he fell onto his back, unconscious. Tsunade quickly overcame her paralyzed state of shock and ran to the orange-clad boy's side. She then cut a glare in Kabuto's direction and demanded, "You… how can you be standing after _that_?"

Kabuto smirked as he carefully and very slowly stepped towards her. "I focused my chakra at the point of impact… Before he even hit me, I started healing myself," he answered. True enough, his wounds were visibly closing until it looked like nothing had happened. "You see now why Lord Orochimaru values me so highly: not only for my skills and knowledge of Jutsus, but most of all for my recuperative powers. No matter how great the injury, I can repair and reenergize any damaged cells. Naruto, on the other hand, doesn't have that gift. He looks finished."

Not seconds after that last sentence, Kabuto suddenly coughed up blood and fell face first into the ground. He now laid there, his body shivering in pain and his eyes wide in shock. _I never thought…! Even with my healing powers… the damage was too great! And now, I haven't got enough chakra left…!_

Tsunade got frightened when she suddenly heard Naruto's heart get slower in rhythm. She quickly unzipped his jacket and pressed both of her hands against his chest, both to give CPR and to find out what was wrong with him. _The muscles surrounding his heart have been torn to shreds, _she thought. _How the hell did it happen, and when?!_ She then realized the most possible way it could have happened. _That moment, just before they separated, Kabuto must have struck at his heart! _Acting quickly and doing her best to calm herself down, she used her chakra to cut his undershirt open and began using her healing Jutsu.

Meanwhile, the two toads were watching the battle unfold from behind a rock, the orange one being the only one to take things seriously. "How about it, Gamakichi?" Gamatatsu asked. "Do we have to wait for the kid to croak before we get our snacks? I'm getting hungry."

"Zip it or I'll make sure _you _definitely croak!" Gamakichi snapped.

Kabuto chuckled as he managed to tilt his head to look at the gambling sannin's attempts at bringing Naruto away from the brink of death. "You're wasting your time," he stated. "It's all over for him. With my… last strength, I severed… his heart's chakra network. I cut him off… from getting any help… from the demon. And he hasn't the power… to save himself. I'm telling you, he's finished… dead. All your skills are useless now."

"Oh, shut up!" she snapped at him. "Or else I'll see to _you _being dead soon!" Her heart then skipped a beat when the boy in front of her stopped breathing. This was the third person she had met who had wanted to become Hokage, and he was the third person who was out of her reach to save. "No… No…! No!" Tears actually fell from her eyes and down on his bare stomach as she realized that all was lost. _Don't die…! Don't die…! Don't die…!_

Her eyes widened when she saw his left hand slowly move up and grab her necklace. Naruto opened his eyes slightly and gave a weak smirk. "Hey… don't forget… our bet," he said. "Told ya… I'd win…" He then closed his eyes and fell into a safe slumber.

"He's… still alive?!" Kabuto wondered in disbelief.

Tsunade smiled warmly – something she had not done in years – and gently placed the orange-clad boy's left hand down on the ground. "To be Hokage… that's still your dream, Naruto… isn't it?" she whispered as she used a fraction of her chakra to heal his cut hand. "…One more time…" She took off her necklace and carefully placed it around the boy's neck. "Just one more time… for the last time… I want those words to be true."

The entire scene did not go unnoticed by the other two sannin who were fighting. "Poor boy… I really don't think he'll make it," Orochimaru said.

"You're forgetting Tsunade's healing powers," Jiraiya stated. "Don't worry about him; she'll have him back up on his feet in no time."

"Perhaps so, but that's not what I meant."

The Toad Sage narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Forget Naruto. I'd be focusing on _me_ if I was you. _I'm _the one you have to worry about."

But Orochimaru paid no mind to the old man. _There's far more to this little genin than meets the eye, _he thought. _There's no telling what might happen if the Akatsuki get their hands on him. But if he was to die, right now…_

His mind made up, the snake-man jumped off the snake he stood on and headed towards Naruto, Jiraiya quickly chasing after him. Orochimaru noticed that he was being chased and responded by turning around and spitting out his extended tongue. The tongue wrapped around the Toad Sage's ankle, and Orochimaru then swung his fellow sannin into the ground, used his tongue to pull himself towards Naruto, and made a snake from his mouth spit out the Sword of Kusanagi, using himself as a living javelin.

Jumping in front of the boy just in time, Tsunade managed to grab the long katana by the blade with both hands, stopping the attack at the cost of cutting her palms. Orochimaru stepped away from her, retracted his tongue, swallowed the snake and the sword, and looked down at her with a frown. "Tsunade… you are the one person I wouldn't want to kill," he said. "Listen to me. If that brat is allowed to live, it would mean more trouble than you and your friends could ever imagine. Stay out of my way."

Tsunade, although she was shivering, glared up at Orochimaru with determination burning in her eyes. "No… you listen to _me_!" she growled. "If I do nothing else, I _will _protect this boy!"

The snake-man gave an amused smile. "And how do you plan to do that? Look at you – your body is shivering like a leaf in the wind. Besides, why would you, one of the sannin, risk your life to save a lowly genin?"

She did her best to remain her determination and overcome her fear of blood. "By saving him, I'm saving… my home… Konoha!"

Orochimaru returned to frowning. "You really think you're protecting the village?"

Tsunade looked over her shoulder at the unconscious boy behind her. "You see… this boy… this lowly little genin… has been chosen by fate to be Hokage someday," she answered.

He chuckled. "What nonsense. Even if it _is_ true, what of it? Who cares about the Hokages? Only a fool would want that job."

Tsunade's eyes widened. What he said sounded exactly like what she said to Jiraiya and Naruto when they offered her the title of Hokage. Her mind then recalled all that she would have thrown away if she had agreed to Orochimaru's offer or refused the hidden leaf village. What she especially remembered was what Jiraiya had told her about the previous Hokages and how they were willing to risk it all for the sake of the village.

She narrowed her eyes and glared daggers at the snake-man. "From now on… I'm gambling everything, too! I'm putting my life on the line!" she swore.

Orochimaru became enraged. At this point, the possibility of getting Tsunade to cure his arms, no matter what he did to her, was zero. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Well then… If you're really willing to throw your life away for the sake of one insignificant little brat, I'm happy to accommodate you!"

The villain then let the Sword of Kusanagi out of his mouth and reeled back to deliver the deadly slash. But before he could strike, a fist connected to his right cheek, knocking the katana out of his mouth and sending him rolling backwards. When he looked up at the one who hit him, he hissed in rage.

Torabu stood in front of Tsunade, left fist held up and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

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><p>dopliss: We're almost there, guys! One more chapter of this story, and I'll start uploading chapters on story three!<p>

Mizuki: (sarcastically) I can't wait.


	71. Chapter 71 Good versus evil, part 3

**dopliss: Here it is, guys! This is the final chapter of the Search for Tsunade arc! After this is over, I'll start uploading story three!**

**Mizuki: I have neither something positive nor negative to say. Let's just get on with the chapter, shall we?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Geez, I'm gonna say that sentence dozens of more times…**

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><p><em>What's going on now? <em>Tsunade wondered as she stared at the scene before her. _All of a sudden, some strange kid I've never seen before appears in front of me and hits Orochimaru across the face. What's his agenda in all this? And Orochimaru… he's got a look of hate in his eyes. Does he know this kid from somewhere?_

Torabu turned around and kneeled down next to the unconscious Naruto. "How is he?" he asked in a no-nonsense tone.

Tsunade hesitated answering the cat-boy at first, but when she saw the headband hanging from his neck with the Konoha insignia on it, she assumed he was an ally. "His condition is stable, but he needs rest," she answered.

Meanwhile, Shizune had awakened and began healing her injured ankles. Once they were healed, she rushed over to her mistress's side, accompanied with a worried cry of "Lady Tsunade!"

Jiraiya also recovered from his violent collision with the ground and slowly got back on his feet. After rubbing his sore back and getting accustomed to the pain, he leapt over to his allies in a single leap. "Glad to see you're here, Torabu," he greeted calmly. "Would've loved it if you came sooner, but whatever."

Torabu stood up and turned away from the adults and towards Orochimaru. "Ladies, old man Jiraiya… stand guard over Naruto," he ordered. "Leave Orochimaru to me."

The grownups were all surprised at the boy's decision. "What?! You… you must be crazy!" Tsunade replied.

"He's way out of your league, Torabu! You don't stand a chance!" Shizune warned.

"It would be for the better if you leave the fighting to us sannin," Jiraiya stated.

"From the looks of it, you're not fit to fight anyone at the moment," the troublemaking ninja replied without turning around. "If someone's gonna fight this bastard, it's me – no one else."

The Toad Sage narrowed his eyes at the cat-boy. "Absolutely not," he denied. "There's a higher chance of us winning without casualties if you don't fight Orochimaru on your own. Now stand back and—"

The old man was cut off when Torabu quickly turned his head to give him a very serious glare. A glare that loudly exclaimed to him that no matter what he would say or do, it would be for naught – Torabu would not be denied this fight. "I repeat: Leave Orochimaru to me," he said.

Jiraiya furrowed his brow in thought and then sighed. "Very well, then. You win," he said, causing Shizune to stare wide-eyed at him. "But, if things start to go south for you, we will jump into the fray."

"He's got no arms – how tough can he be?" And with that remark, Torabu took a few steps toward the villain.

Orochimaru kept his hate-filled eyes locked on the troublemaking ninja as he managed to stand back up. "So… we meet again," he said. "I do believe I have to punish you severely for what you did to my arms."

Tsunade gave the cat-boy a wide-eyed look. _This kid… did __**that**__ to him? _she wondered.

"Oh please," Torabu scoffed. "All I did was making you more similar to your motif. If anything, you should thank me."

The snake-man's eyes narrowed. "I'll reward you with a one-way trip to your oblivion."

"No thanks. From what I've heard, the reviews gave that place a zero out of ten."

Orochimaru gave an evil smirk. "You may talk big, but I know for a fact that you cannot defeat me. Don't you recall how weak and exhausted you were last we clashed – and that was even before we personally fought."

Now it was Torabu's turn to smirk. "Yeah, I remember. Those little reminders you have dangling from each of your shoulders make me think of what I managed to do to you in my 'weak and exhausted' state."

The smirk instantly vanished from the villain's pale face. "Be that as it may, you're centuries away from reaching my level. No matter what you may do, the outcome of this fight will remain the same." His snakelike pupils became thinner. "You _will _die here."

Torabu scoffed again. "You're apparently getting senile," he stated. "Unless you haven't noticed, I'm at a hundred percent this time, I've grown stronger, and I've got immediate backup if I get my ass handed to me. You, on the other hand…" He gave a short chuckle. "Oh, wait, I forgot."

That was all that Orochimaru could take. "Well then… Let's see if you can prove your powers to be worthy of fighting me," he said. "Kabuto!"

Kabuto, even with his body weakened from his fighting, managed to stand up and leapt over to his master's side. Torabu was shocked to see him, but quickly put two and two together. _I see… _he thought. _So, Kabuto works together with that psychopathic murderer. If I have to kill him to kill Orochimaru, I shall._

"Kabuto… I think it's time to summon _him _to the battlefield," Orochimaru stated.

Kabuto's eyes widened. "But, Lord Orochimaru… I can't summon him here! The risk is too dangerous!" he protested.

The snake-man glared daggers at his lackey. "Summon. Him. NOW!"

Gulping, Kabuto drew a line of his own blood across the tattoo on his master's arm and made hand-seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" he cried and pressed his right hand against the ground.

What appeared after the smoke dispersed was the body of a snake with purple scales and black ring markings along its body and had a size and length made the previous giant snakes seem minor in comparison. Chuckling evilly from the top of the snake's head, Orochimaru asked, "What mocking lines do you have to say _now_, boy?!"

_HOLY CRAP! That thing is humongous!_ Torabu mentally panicked. _No! Calm down, Torabu! Remember: when it comes to opponents, size doesn't matter! _Psyching himself up to fight, he then replied, "Pretty big snake you've got there! Compensating for something?!"

Even though he remained calm, Orochimaru's right eye twitched in anger. "An odd choice for last words, but I'm not one to judge," he muttered. "Manda… why don't you show him what you 'compensate' for?"

The gigantic snake, apparently named Manda, glanced down at the cat-boy with his acid-green eyes. "A mutated human boy… Is this _really _what you've summoned me for, Orochimaru?" he questioned in a very deep voice. "I swear, if you weren't as powerful as you are, I would've eaten you ages ago."

Kabuto gulped again in anxiety. _If Lord Manda finds out that Lord Orochimaru's unable to use his Jutsus, he'll betray us for sure! _he thought.

"Alright, then," Manda said, reeling back his head. "After this is over, I expect a hundred human sacrifices."

The gigantic serpent aimed the tip of his long tail at the boy and thrust it at him. Torabu managed to leap out of the way before the tail dug into the ground, but unfortunately, it came right up another hole and smacked him hard in midair, sending him flying along the ground. He managed to flip his body around and landed on his feet, following by blowing a fireball at the tail, which was quickly retracted through the holes and moved out of the projectile's course. Following, Manda lashed his tail sideways to swipe at the troublemaking ninja again, but the cat-boy used a Shadow Clone as a stepping stone to leap over the attacking appendage and land on it.

As he ran up the snake's body towards his head, Torabu summoned his Chakra Claws. To literally shake his target off of him, Manda swung his tail forcefully. _You're not getting rid of me __**that**__ easily! _Torabu thought as he prepared to dig his claws into the scales. Unfortunately, though, his claws just bounced off, and he was flung off the gigantic reptile. _Crap! His scales are too hard for my claws! That rules out attacking with my claws, shuriken and kunai._

"Time to tenderize the meat!" Manda roared as he straightened his neck.

The moment the cat-boy landed on the ground, he was greeted with the serpent's head crashing onto him, causing the ground to shake. When Manda lifted his head and looked down the crater he had made, he saw the troublemaking ninja slowly get back up. He brushed the dirt off his arms and gave a faux-confident glare to the snake. "What's the matter? Can't do better than that?" he dared.

"You're asking for it, you flea!" the beast replied as he reeled back his tail and swung it towards his opponent.

Torabu smirked and used his chakra to form cold air into a ball of ice in his right hand. "Ice Style: Subzero Sphere!" he shouted and threw the sphere at the incoming tail. But unlike everyone else who had been on the receiving end of the attack and were immediately frozen solid upon contact, all that happened with Manda was that a small area on his tail became covered in ice. "Aw, crap!" Torabu cursed and leapt out of harm's way.

Orochimaru laughed from his position on top of Manda's head. "Is that really the best you can do, boy?" he asked. "So much for 'being at a hundred percent and having gotten stronger', am I right? Why don't you call to your little friends you claim are your backup?"

_As much as I'd hate to admit it, he's right, _Torabu thought as he landed on his feet. _I think it's time to call in the cavalry. _He then bit a hole in his left thumb, smeared the blood over his right hand, and made hand-seals. "Summoning Jutsu!"

The three sannin, Shizune and Kabuto all stared in surprised awe as the big white tiger appeared at the cat-boy's side. _He can summon, too?! _was the thought that ran through their minds.

"Alright, Yukitora – let's bring this serpent down!" Torabu said encouragingly as he jumped onto the ferocious feline's back.

The chakra surrounding Yukitora's paws moved down to their undersides and made the ground underneath them get covered in ice. With a threatening roar, the tiger took off in a sprint and ran around the massive snake, a trail of ice following. And then, all of a sudden, the tiger began to rise off the ground, the ice underneath it creating some sort of super-sturdy bridge. Meanwhile, Manda kept his gaze locked on to the tiger that circled him. When it had raised up high enough, Yukitora opened its mouth, charged a big ball of rock-hard ice, and fired it at the serpent, the projectile colliding hard with the reptile's head.

"GRAH! Stand still, you microscopic nuisance!" the snake roared and smashed a lower part of the 'ice staircase' that his opponent had created with his tail.

Realizing that his foothold was literally crashing down, Yukitora leapt off the ice path it had created, which Manda retaliated with by intercepting the tiger and opening his mouth as wide as he could. However, the white jungle cat had no intention of getting eaten, and with a mighty roar, it created a massive sphere of ice around itself, causing the snake to clamp his jaws down on it. While the serpent struggled with crushing the ice barrier, Yukitora easily managed to break out of his dome and the snake's mouth, creating another trail of ice to run on while Torabu blasted Manda in the snout with a fireball.

"Let's go for the big man on top!" Torabu suggested, to which he got an agreeing roar in response.

Orochimaru gritted his teeth in anger when he saw the cat-boy and the tiger land on Manda's tail and run along his body towards the head. "Kabuto! Stop them!" he ordered.

Obeying his master's order, Kabuto jumped off the head of the snake and ran town towards the troublemaking ninja and his tiger companion. "Sic him, kitty!" Torabu shouted.

After his rider jumped off of its back, Yukitora growled menacingly and tackled Kabuto, knocking him off Manda's body. As he neared his destination, Torabu threw two kunai at Orochimaru. Although he dodged them, the knives turned into Torabu clones and restrained the villain by his boneless arms. At that moment, Manda spat out the ball of ice and advanced in on Torabu, fangs bared. But fortunately, the cat-boy was ready. Creating two Volcano Blast spheres in his hands, he threw the one in his left right into the serpent's mouth, causing him to recoil in pain from the explosion.

Torabu narrowed his eyes and clenched his right hand into a fist as he got closer and closer to Orochimaru. "This is for the Third Hokage!" he roared and struck the snake-man right in the face, followed by an explosion that knocked the both of them and the two clones off the snake's head.

Gracefully, Torabu flipped upright and whistled, causing Yukitora to leap up at him and catching him on its back, followed by a safe landing. Once down on the ground in front of his impressed allies, the cat-boy dismounted the tiger, which disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"GRAAAH! This is ridiculous!" Manda hissed in rage. "I'm leaving this place! Summon me when you can give me a _real _challenge, Orochimaru!" And with that, he disappeared.

Torabu then turned around to look at where Orochimaru had landed, where he found the snake-man sitting on the ground. And that last attack certainly had done a number on him; his left cheek was beet red, his left eyebrow and eyelashes were burned away, his left eyelids and the left side of his lips were melted shut, and his arms were torn off from the blast! With his undamaged right side of his face, he gave a look of absolute hate and rage.

_This… this is absurd! _Orochimaru thought in disbelief. _This boy… not only has he robbed me of my arms and Jutsu, but now he has damaged me to this extent! How ridiculous! How inconceivable! _He thought back to when he first met Torabu's parents, where he saw the cat-boy lying in his cradle. _He looked absolutely odd, but there was nothing special about him at all. How come a malformed baby grew up to be someone capable of crippling me this badly?! _"You…!" he hissed. "Who exactly _are _you?!"

Torabu spat to the side. "And here I thought you were smart," he said sourly. "I am a boy who spent his entire life in the peaceful village of Konoha. I used to be an attention-hungry glutton who pulled pranks on my fellow villagers, a little brat who only thought he'd become a famous legend once he grew up. But the day I saw you end the life of the Third Hokage, the only man who I looked up to and respected, that boy disappeared. From then on and until the day I die, I will dedicate my life to protect my home from all threats that dare cause harm to it."

Orochimaru spat to the side (the right one – not that he could spit anywhere else) and sneered. "Pretty big talk, coming from a freak show like you," he growled. "Why don't you go for the title of Hokage, like your orange-clad friend over there?"

"No. As much as I respect the title of Hokage and the people who've borne it in the past, I have no interest in becoming one. I want to protect my home, yes, but in my own way and without a high position. I wanna be respected because of my actions, not for my title, unlike how I once was. You can thank yourself for making me rethink my future ambitions and care more about the village."

He grabbed a kunai and narrowed his eyes. "I am Torabu Maka of Konoha, the one who will help aid in protecting the hidden leaf village's future! And you, Orochimaru, can call yourself doomed!" And with that last sentence, he threw the knife at the villain.

Before the weapon could reach its target, however, Kabuto quickly intercepted it and deflected it with one of his own kunai. Following that, he picked up his master in both arms. Orochimaru then turned his glare to his fellow sannin. "Heed my words, Tsunade!" he growled. "I don't need you to heal my arms – I don't need you at all! I have found my own fountain of eternal youth and immortality! Do as you want, become the next leader of Konoha – it means nothing to me! One day, I will return completely healed and bring the end to both you and everyone in your pitiful village!"

With everything said, the two villains retreated from the losing battle. _Come back whenever you feel like, Orochimaru. I'll be waiting, _Torabu thought as he unclenched his fists. He then turned back to his allies and walked up to the busty woman. "You're Tsunade?" he assumed.

The gambling sannin looked up at the cat-boy. "Uh… yes," she answered.

"My friends and I have traveled from afar to find you. We wish to award you with the title of Hokage and escort you back to our home so you can begin your leadership. All we need now is your acceptance of the title. And before you answer, know this: 'no' will not be taken as an answer."

Jiraiya stared in amazement at the troublemaking ninja. _Is this really the fun-loving boy we've traveled with? _he wondered.

Tsunade cleared her throat and stood up. "I've had that choice for a week now," she said. "And although I originally refused the offer, these last days have altered my decision." She gave a warm smile. "Now… I am ready to accept."

Torabu smiled back. "Very well, then," he said and bowed respectfully. "I wish you the best of luck with your future leadership of our village, Fifth Hokage."

* * *

><p>Sitting on a throne in a very dark room was a big man, his heavy breathing being the only sound in the room. The man was absolutely alone, but then a sound ninja appeared out of nowhere, kneeling in front of him. "Speak. Why are you here?" the big man demanded in a very deep voice.<p>

"Lord Taidana," the sound ninja addressed respectfully. "I come here bringing a message from Lord Orochimaru."

The big man named Taidana took the letter and opened it.

_**Your work is undone.**_

_**The Maka bloodline still flows.**_

_**Find him and kill him.**_

Taidana gave a weary sigh and closed his eyes. "So… the Master finally figured it out, huh?" he muttered. "And I who thought all of that would vanish with time…" He then looked at the sound ninja. "Return to our master's side and tell him I'll completely finish the job."

* * *

><p>A day of recovering later, Naruto, Torabu and their friends were walking out of Tanzoku Town with Tsunade and her assistant in tow, towards their treasured homes. The two boys were currently in the middle of talking about the last fight. "Awesome!" the orange-clad boy said in awe. "I never thought you'd be able to kick Orochimaru's ass! You go, Torabu!"<p>

The cat-boy laughed sheepishly. "Hey, it's not like _you_ haven't done anything amazing in the past," he stated. "Remember your fights against Kiba and Neji? All odds were against you, and you won in the end."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, that's true… I guess the score is two against one, huh?"

As the two boys talked, Jiraiya and Tsunade looked at them with smiles on their faces. "The new generation of ninjas sure is a curious one, eh?" the old man thought out loud. "Who knows what they'll grow up to be like?"

_One thing's for certain, _Tsunade thought as she looked at the clouds. _Those two boys will become great ninjas – especially you, Naruto._

* * *

><p>dopliss: And that's a wrap, folks! Now this story arc is 100% done!<p>

Mizuki: How many are left?

dopliss: That's not something I'll reveal _just yet_. However, stay tuned for the upcoming story three!


	72. Chapter 72 Hot spring break

**dopliss: Don't worry, guys. Just 'cause I've started a third story doesn't mean I'm only gonna update once a month. I'm just spending a lot more time on writing the third story since it's more difficult to write in a first-person perspective.**

**Mizuki: And as for the order he'll update his stories in, for now on it'll be two stories each weekend. So, this week will have story one and story two updated, the next will have story three and story one updated, the following will have story two and story three updated, and so on.**

**dopliss: For now, though, enjoy a little filler chapter I've worked hard to alter so it isn't completely pointless.**

**Disclaimer: The franchises my stories are categorized under all belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

><p>Even on their unhindered walk back towards Konoha, Naruto, Torabu and their companions were struck by an interruption. Upon reaching a branching path, Tsunade had stopped the others in order to inform them that along the other path lay a quaint town with a hot spring resort.<p>

"Hmm… hot spring resort…" Shizune muttered as she looked at a guidebook for tourist attractions. "It says here that the hot springs promote health and beauty."

"Health and beauty… Hmm…" Takai thought aloud, liking every single fact about that description she just heard. "I can't see a reason not to check it out."

"Forget about it," Naruto refused. "We've got a long way to go, and everyone at home is waiting expectantly for us."

"You know, for once, I agree with him," Jiraiya stated. "We really ought to be heading back. For all we know, the village could be in trouble."

"And besides, we've gotta get the old lady here back so she can become the new Hokage," Torabu added.

Her eyebrows twitching in suppressed anger, the busty woman glared at the cat-boy. "Let me get something clear with you," she said in a dangerous tone. "Your powers which you showed during your recent fight don't matter – if you dare call me an old lady again, you _will _regret it." Calming down, she returned to her earlier conversation. "Besides, what difference would _one day _make for us?"

"Yeah! You three should loosen up and enjoy a much-needed break," Takai agreed.

With a sigh, Torabu then said, "Alright then… we will settle this with democracy. All in favor of taking a break and going to the hot spring resort, raise your hands." To that, the three women of the group raised their hands as one. "All in favor of getting back home as soon as possible so the old…"

The troublemaking ninja's words disappeared from his throat as he got a very dangerous glare from Tsunade. That glare sent a very powerful message that his brain easily could understand. It was as if she was saying "Go ahead. Call me that again. See what happens," with the disturbing voice of the most evil demon lingering at the deepest bowels of Hell itself. And that would be a demon that was currently just two words away from bursting out of its chamber and unleash eternal suffering and chaos unto him and his world.

"Err… getting back home as soon as possible so that the kind, pretty and wise Lady Tsunade can become crowned with the title of Hokage," he corrected nervously. Seeing her eyes soften into calmness relieved him. "Ahem… All in favor of that, raise your hands." After that was said, the two boys and the old man were the ones to raise their hands.

"Now what? We tie," Shizune stated.

Taking off his backpack and placing it on the ground, the cat-boy said, "There's no other choice but to bring out the tiebreaker. Oi, cat! You awake?" Opening the pack, he let out a groan as he saw a sleeping Bakeneko with the sad remains of his newly-bought pork buns.

While Torabu was complaining to himself, Tsunade decided to play her trump card. Leaning her head close to Jiraiya's, she whispered into his left ear, "I hear it's popular with women. And it allows mixed bathing!"

That was pretty much all the persuasion the old pervert needed, as two seconds after he heard that piece of information, he started walking off into the direction of the resort. The two boys took notice of him leaving. "Hey! Where the heck do you think you're going?!" Torabu called after him.

The Toad Sage stopped walking and turned back, his cheeks slightly pink and his mouth curved into a grin that revealed his intentions. "Oh, I've got this crick in my… uh…" With that obvious lie not working, he said, "Well, everyone's gotta take a break once in a while."

"That's not what you said just a minute ago!" Naruto complained, very annoyed that his teacher's bad habit with women had resurfaced once more.

"Then it's settled. We're going to the hot springs!" Takai cheered as the group began walking towards the site for promised relaxation and health-preservation.

Unbeknownst to the group, however, two men in cloaks and straw hats were spying on them from a distance. One of them then looked at a picture of Tsunade that he held in his hand. "Ah, it's her, alright," he whispered. "No doubt about it."

"I don't believe it…!" the other man whispered back. "We've finally found her!"

* * *

><p>Naruto felt very relaxed as he walked back towards the guestroom that he and his other male travel companions had to stay in for the night. Dressed in the resort's color-coded yukata – blue for men, red for women – he flexed the soothed muscles in his neck and arms. <em>I've gotta admit, I needed that, <em>he mused.

As he neared his room, a yukata-clad Takai exited the one on the opposite of the boy's room. For obvious reasons, the group had requested their rooms to be close to each other. With a smile, she greeted, "Hi there. Enjoyed your dip in the hot springs?"

"You bet!" he answered with a slight laugh. "You should've joined us."

She shrugged. "Tsunade wanted to gamble, and Shizune had no choice but to follow her in case of bad luck leading to possible bankruptcy. And I… well…" She quickly closed the door behind her to hide the dozens of alcohol bottles filling up the beds. "…I had some… old friends to reunite with. And I assume the others are still in the baths?"

Naruto strolled over to his room and opened the door. "Yup. They haven't had enough of the wa- WHAAAAA?!" Upon entering his room, he saw his stuff spread all across the floor. "I… I've been robbed!" he gasped as he quickly began rummaging through his backpack and the pockets of his clothes.

"Oh my!" Takai gasped as well as she entered the boy's room.

It only took a minute of searching before the yellow-haired boy realized what had been stolen. "The necklace I won from Grandma Tsunade! It's gone!" In panic, he immediately denied the worst of all possibilities and began searching throughout the room. "M-Maybe I just misplaced it! It's gotta be around here somewhere!"

As the boy went on with his searching, the fiery female found a small note hanging on the wall. "Hey, check this out," she said, catching Naruto's attention. "'If you want the necklace back, pay back the money you owe. The Akagi family will be waiting at the three trees on the hill outside of town.'"

The boy widened his eyes in confusion. "What money?! Who do I owe money to?!" he thought aloud.

"Whoever they are, they're not getting what they demand," Takai stated in a serious tone. "You go meet this 'Akagi family' – I'll find Tsunade and Shizune and meet up with you."

And with a solemn nod to each other, the two of them rushed off in separate directions.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, Naruto stood on the hill that the note demanded him to go to. "Hey! Akagi family! I'm here!" he shouted, angry and ready to bash some skulls. "Are you in hiding or what?! Come out and face me!"<p>

Then, stepping out from behind the trees were the two mysterious strangers that had spied on our heroes earlier that day. Both men, however, looked quite surprised when they saw the boy. "What do you want, kid?" the one with brown hair asked.

"That's what _I _want to know!" Naruto roared. "I don't owe you guys any money – I don't even know you at all! Gimme back my necklace, right now!"

"_Your _necklace?" the other man, a black-haired one, asked in confusion. "Whaddya mean?"

The brunet took the First Hokage's necklace out of his pocket and looked closely at it. "We couldn't have gotten it wrong, could we?" he wondered.

"Hey! That's my necklace!" Now that he was completely sure that they were the thieves, Naruto rushed towards the two men with ten Shadow Clones by his side and gave them one relentless beating.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Jiraiya bemoaned his own unfortunate luck. Even though he sat in the hot spring for mixed bathing, he was yet to outlive his innermost desires. Other than Torabu and Fukigen, who were sitting at the nearby rocks drinking tea, the only other visitors were fist a bunch of monkeys, and then a group of obese, middle-aged men. Finally, after those two mishaps, a group of women showed up and were quite fond of the Toad Sage. But three was not a charm this time – they were women, alright, but women in their seventies, and none of them were any pleasing to look at.<p>

And now, as if some higher force was sadistically taunting Jiraiya, he was stuck in the hot spring with a mixture of monkeys, obese men and elderly women. _When they said 'mixed bathing', I didn't expect this, _he mentally groaned. _I just need to be patient, that's all. OW! My foot!_

As the old man got accidentally hit by various limbs, the Bakeneko was in a chat with one of the chimps. "…And then I said, 'Lady, there ain't nothing I can't do to make you feel good,' and she replied with, 'You're quite the tom, but how do I know you're not up to some tomfoolery?' To that, I smirked and said, 'Well, toots, if you're up to some monkey business—'"

The ape gave a string of complaining noises at those last two words.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry. Anyway, I then showed her my stick, and when she saw how huge it was, she fell head over heels for me."

As this happened, Torabu was toying with his new powers over ice and fire. First he filled his empty teacup with some water from the hot spring, then created a sphere of ice small enough to fit between his index finger and thumb, and dropped it into the cop, freezing the hot water instantly. Now with a clump of ice in his hand, he created a small fireball and used it to instantly turn the cold block into steam. Then he rinsed and repeated the process.

_It's a waste of time, but what the heck, _he mused.

* * *

><p>After everyone had calmed down, Naruto had gotten his necklace back and the two men had recovered from their thrashing, everything was explained properly. "So it's really Grandma Tsunade who owes you money," Naruto summarized.<p>

Giving an affirming nod, the brunet explained, "Her reputation as 'the Legendary Sucker' is widely known – and we knew that it was true when she came to our village and lost. She was broke, so we took her I.O.U."

The black-haired man took a piece of paper out of his pocket and gave it to the boy. "This is what she owes us," he said.

One look at the number written on the paper, and Naruto nearly fainted. "Whoa! That's a lot of zeroes!" he gasped.

"My name is Senta, and this is Bunzo," the brunet introduced. "It's been over three years since our family sent us out to collect the debt."

"We set out from Akagi Mountain knowing we couldn't go back without the money," Bunzo continued. "But the trail was cold."

"We searched _everywhere_! We kept hearing rumors she was here and there, but always somewhere else."

"She has a reputation for being hard to find when you wanna find her – and it's true."

"At last we got some solid information. She'd been seen in the area, heading towards this village! So we staked out at a road outside of town."

"I get it," Naruto realized. "And that's when we came along with Grandma Tsunade." He then crossed his arms and cocked an eyebrow. "But that still doesn't explain why you raided my room and tore it apart."

"She may be an easy mark, but we've heard she's a tough customer," Senta told.

"If we asked her in person, she'd definitely refuse," Bunzo continued. "So we tried to make her do it by stealing her necklace, which we heard was as precious to her as her life, and demand a ransom. It just didn't occur to us that it was no longer hers."

At that point, Naruto spotted the females in his traveling group come running towards his location, all three of them armed with a kunai in their hands. He quickly stepped in front of the two men and held his hands out in front of him in a reassuring manner. "It's okay. I've settled the matter at hand," he told them.

Tsunade gave an exasperated sigh as she and the other ladies put their blades away. "And I who was so busy with my gambling…" she muttered.

The two men from the Akagi family perked their ears at the sound of the familiar voice, and with wide eyes, they slowly turned around to look at the ladies. "La… La… LADY TSUNADE!" they both gasped as one.

The busty woman shifted her gaze over to the men, who were now on their knees in front of her and bowing in respect. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"These guys are from the Akagi family," Naruto explained. "They came here to make you repay your debt."

"Oh… _that _Akagi family…" the gambling sannin remembered.

"Please, your grace!" Senta pleaded. "Please pay back what you owe!"

"We can't go home until you do! We really miss our wives and kids!" Bunzo begged.

"Please, look into your heart and help us!" both of them implored.

Tsunade turned her eyes up to the skies above and took a deep breath. After a minute of silence, she answered, "Very well. I shall repay you."

The two men's faces immediately brightened, and they celebrated their happiness by dancing together. "But, Lady Tsunade," Shizune said quietly as to not spoil the dancing men's joy, "you don't have the money to pay them."

The busty woman chuckled in a superior fashion. "Shizune, Shizune… are you _that_ ignorant?" she replied. "If you have money, there's a place for you to double, triple, even quadruple your cash. And that place is where we're gonna get rich beyond your wildest dreams. Grand success awaits us, my loyal attendant."

Takai glared at the gambling sannin out of the corner of her eyes. _Grand success nothing, _she thought. _When I found you, you were rendered out of coins from losing at a slot machine._

* * *

><p>Now that all the old women, the fat men and the monkeys had left, Jiraiya had gotten out of the hot spring so as to not get his body overcooked. Now he and Torabu, both dressed in only their boxers, were standing on the surface of the water, having agreed to spend a little time sparring with each other, both so that the Toad Sage could waste time until some young and beautiful girls would come and so that the cat-boy could get some practice.<p>

"I'm probably gonna be the only one to ever beat two of the three legendary sannin in battle," Torabu said cockily, smirking.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch, kiddo," Jiraiya replied. "You only won because your opponent had no arms."

Standing a little off to the side, Fukigen glared at the two humans in front of him. "Remember the rules, you two," he reminded. "No Jutsus, summons or weapons – fists and feet only."

Thinking quickly, Torabu came up with a strategy that he knew would work on the old man. "Oh – hello, ladies!" he greeted.

Surprised, Jiraiya quickly turned around to look at the only door leading away, where he found no one. His senses quickly warned him that his sparring partner was running towards him, and so he decided to strike back with a trick just as dirty as the one the boy pulled on him. In one swift motion, the old man kicked up some water into the cat-boy's eyes blinding him. Following that, the Toad Sage used a strong kick to send the boy flying into the wall to the left of the entrance.

When Torabu recovered from the blow and sat up, he did something completely unexpected: he wailed like baby getting rudely awoken from its sleep. "Uh… you okay?" the Toad Sage asked, confused and slightly worried that he might have put too much force into his attack.

"You awful man!"

That new and unfamiliar voice caused Jiraiya's eyes to widen as he slowly turned his head to look at the entrance. This time there actually was a group of young and attractive girls standing there, all dressed in only towels, but all of them glared daggers at the old man. "How could you do that to a poor, innocent boy?!" one of them scolded as she and the other girls rushed over to the troublemaking ninja's side.

"Are you okay, little boy?" another asked Torabu.

The cat-boy kept crying. "When we went here on vacation, I thought I'd avoid the beatings, but no! It's just like at home!" he replied in the most innocent tone he could.

Jiraiya was confused. "What're you talking about? I'm not your dad."

"You keep saying that every day!" the boy wailed on. "I hate you, Daddy! I wish I was homeless!"

"You're horrible, you child-beater!" one of the girls snapped at the Toad Sage. "You really should feel ashamed of yourself!"

Another of the girls helped Torabu up and gently patted him on the head. "There, there, kiddo. Don't cry. Everything's gonna be all right," she soothingly said.

"Come – we'll buy you some ice-cream," a third said.

"Thank you…" Torabu sniffed as he followed the girls out of the hot spring. "You're all a bunch of angels." Just before he left out of the doorway, however, he flashed Jiraiya a taunting smirk.

That was when it clicked in the Toad Sage's brain. "So _that's _what he was up to…!" he muttered, shaking in rage.

"The boy is a true prankster at heart, alright, "Fukigen commented.

"Why, that no-good, manipulating, crocodile-tear-weeping… _troublemaker_!"

* * *

><p>Tsunade had led the rest of the group to the town's casino, where she had found a wealthy man to challenge to a game of Poker. She was sure that she could beat him, especially when she saw that she had four aces on her hand, so she went all-in against him. She could have won… and she would have, had her opponent not had a Straight Flush on his hand and taken all her cash in one blow.<p>

Now she just sat there at the table, her eyebrows twitching in fury, her opponent laughing heartily, and her friends and the two men from the Akagi family lying face-down on the floor in shock. "Well, Legendary Sucker, you sure lived up to your nickname!" the man laughed as he added her cash to his own.

"Blasted dumb luck…!" Tsunade cursed. "Shizune – go fetch my bag and bring me my wallet."

Shizune stood up and looked at her mistress with all the courage she could muster. "No, Lady Tsunade," she replied. "I won't let you gamble away anything else."

"I gave you an order, Shizune. Fulfill it."

But the black-haired woman was determined. "No. It's time for you to step away from the table." And with that said, she grabbed the busty sannin in a full nelson and began dragging her away from the table and out of the casino.

"How dare you defy my orders!" the gambling sannin screeched, trashing around as she got dragged away. "I am one of the sannin and the Fifth Hokage! I gamble whenever and with whatever I damn well please, be it my money, my clothes or my body!"

And so, when Tsunade disappeared from eyesight and slowly vanished from earshot, Naruto and his three companions got back on their feet. "Well… looks like that's it," Senta said sadly.

"We're never gonna see our families ever again…" Bunzo lamented.

"Don't start shedding tears just yet, boys," Takai said as she sat in the chair the gambling sannin had sat in. "You've got one more hope in me."

The rich Poker player smirked at the fiery female. "Is that a challenge?" he asked. "You're welcome to try and beat me, but I warn you; I'm the best at Poker around these parts."

Takai smirked back. "Oh, we're not gonna play Poker," she replied. "We're gonna play 500 Rum."

The man quirked an eyebrow in curiosity as his smirk faded. "500 Rum, you say?" he asked.

She took the deck of cards and began shuffling them. "Usually, the rules are like this," she explained. "Each player starts the round with seven cards on their hands, one card lying face-up in-between them, and the rest of the cards next to that lone one. All players start each of their turns by either A) picking up the topmost card in the deck; B) picking up the topmost card in the pile; or C) picking up the whole pile. And of course, at the end of your turn, you have to add one of your cards to the pile."

The man nodded. "I know the rules well. But which point system are we gonna follow?" he asked.

"Everything from two to nine counts as five points, tens and face cards are worth ten points, and aces are worth fifteen points. You get points by placing down cards of the same suit and in the correct order in groups of three or more. For example, if you have the King, the Queen and the Jack of Hearts on your hand, you can put them down for thirty points."

The man nodded again. "The only exception of that rule is when you can add to your or your opponent's combination, as in you can put down a five or a nine if your opponent has put down a combination of six, seven and eight."

"True," Takai nodded. "And then there are the jokers, who're wildcards that can count for anything in your combination. And then, of course, there's the fact that you can _lose _points if you have cards in your hand by the end of the round, which can only end when one player 'closes' the pile by placing down their final card facedown. For example, if you've got five cards on your hand at the end of the round, you lose points depending of what each card is worth. However, if you have a joker on your hand, it'll cost you 25 points."

"And if you pick up the pile without being able to put down a combination of three cards, you lose fifty points. And the game ends when one player reaches a total amount of 500 points," the man finished. "So how are we gonna do this? Are we just gonna bet a certain amount of money and just play until one of us reaches 500?"

She giggled mischievously. "What, and make the game boring?" she replied. "No… we're gonna do this differently." She then took a wad of cash out of her yutaka's pocket and placed it on the table. "Each point equals one slip. Whenever a round is over and we've seen how many points we each have earned, the one with the least points shall pay the one with the most the difference. For example, if I got eighty points and you got sixty, you've gotta pay me twenty slips."

The man smirked. "Those are quite the rules to make this fun," he commented. "Alright then, just tell me how much you've got there so I can bet the same and we can begin."

"No," she said suddenly. "You're gonna bet all of your money on this." She then smirked and slowly brushed her right hand over her clothes. "Because if you do and you win all my money, I'll be all yours for the next 24 hours to do whatever you please." She blew him a kiss. "C'mon – don't tell me you're not curious about what's hidden under this little thing I'm wearing?"

The man then took a minute to look his opponent over. With a confident smirk, he replied, "Lady, you've got yourself a bet."

It only took an hour before the man was completely out of cash. With a smirk made from a mixture of victory and mockery, Takai left the casino with her friends in tow, the boy and the two men surprised at her skill and strategic knowledge over to game. "Alright, you two," she said to Senta and Bunzo when they exited the building, handing them two big wads of cash each. "This should about cover the I.O.U. Tsunade owes you."

Sticking the money into their pockets, both men from the Akagi family bowed in absolute gratitude. "Thank you very much, Ms. Ondo!" both said at the same time. "We will never forget this day!"

As the two men left to journey back to their home and families, Naruto turned to look at the fiery female. "What're you gonna do with the rest of that?" he asked, pointing at the remaining money in her hands.

"I guess I'll give half of it to Tsunade as a consolation." She looked longingly at the amount of cash in her right hand. "As for the rest… I'll use that to get some more 'old friends' to pay a visit."

* * *

><p>dopliss: Not much of something to take great pride in, but that's the whole point of filler, I guess.<p>

Mizuki: It's at least a little better than the original.

dopliss: And as for the next chapter, expect a lot of drama.


	73. Chapter 73 Sweet Home Konoha

**dopliss (sweat-dropping): Sorry for not having uploaded last week. I was busy with my grandmother's eightieth birthday last Saturday.**

**Mizuki (skeptically): And…?**

**dopliss: …And I was also pretty preoccupied by **_**Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. **_**(Great game! Definitely recommend it!) Anyway, on with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the true owner of Naruto.**

* * *

><p>It was now the day after our heroes had returned to their precious home, and everything was peaceful and serene in the hidden leaf village, with the people doing their daily business with nary a worry. For an example, let us take a look at what Team 8 was up to. While Hinata was just looking at her two teammates with a small smile on her face, Shino was gathering specimens of different insects, which was made slightly difficult due to Kiba's activity, which consisted of training Akamaru to perform… aerial territory marking.<p>

But as interesting as a dog urinating on specific locations in midair can be, let us change the scenery to the school, where Iruka had just given his class an assignment. But not two seconds after he told them to begin, another chunin entered the classroom and whispered something into Iruka's ear. "Okay, listen up," Iruka said to his students. "I'm afraid that once again I have to dismiss class early." Cue the students cheering. "But that problem is your homework." Cue disappointed grumbling and sighing.

As the three of them left along with their classmates, Konohamaru and his two apparent teammates walked home together, with only one of them having a big smile plastered on her face. "Great! That means no Taijutsu class!" Moegi cheered.

"Yeah," Udon replied negatively, "but we keep getting out earlier, getting our whole day off. That can't be good, you know. I mean, at some point, we're gonna have to learn all this stuff."

Shaking her head, the young girl sighed and said, "You're such a goody-goody. Isn't that right, Konohamaru?"

But Konohamaru did not respond. He had stopped walking and was glaring up at the towering building that was host for the Hokage's room and the ninja council's meeting place. He was in particularly glaring at two elder chunin who were walking down one of the building's outer stairways with brown boxes in their arms. Angry, the Third Hokage's grandson ran into the building and up to where the two men were currently at, blocking their way down.

"Those are my grandfather's things! Where do you think you're taking them?!" he demanded.

The two men were surprised to see the boy in front of them. "Honorable grandson, we, uh…" one trailed off.

"I said, where are you taking them?! They belong to my grandfather!"

"Well, these things… they're just in the way, you see, so we thought it would be best if we put them somewhere safe."

"What do you mean, 'just in the way'?" Konohamaru demanded. "You shouldn't even be touching that stuff! Who gave you permission?!"

"Well, we have to make room for the next Hokage."

The Third Hokage's grandson widened his eyes in wonder and surprise. "The… what?" he asked.

"Yeah… it's done," the other man said. "The Fifth Hokage has finally been chosen. It's a big relief to the whole village. And now, the one that's been chosen is moving in, so we have to—"

Konohamaru cut the man off when he pushed him aside and glared down at them from higher up the staircase. "No! No way!" he shouted. "It's too soon for a new Hokage! My grandfather was _everything _to this village!" And then he ran higher up the stairs, trying his best to deny the truth in his mind.

But the moment he reached the top and got inside the building again, he literally bumped into the very woman who has been the main focus for these last dozen of chapters. "Who're you and what're you doing here?!" he demanded, pointing at her.

Tsunade, having left Konoha a long time before the boy in front of her was even born, had no idea who he was. "'What am I doing here'? Well, what're _you _doing here, you pesky little runt?" she replied.

Konohamaru's face turned red with growing anger. "Who's a 'little runt'?!" he seethed. "I dare you to call me that again!"

"Oh yeah?" Tsunade gave the boy a very cocky smirk. "So you're a glutton for punishment, huh? You're a pesky. Little. Runt."

The boy was now at the verge of exploding. "I'm warning you, if you call me that again…!"

"Lady Tsunade!"

The situation was saved from turning ugly by the arrival of Shizune, who was carrying Tonton the pig in her arms. "You really should be going in now," she stated. "The elders are waiting." Her last sentence was followed by the pig giving an agreeing oink.

The busty woman just shrugged and turned away from the boy. "Alright, Shizune, I'm coming," she said. Then, she gave Konohamaru a light (considering her strength) poke in the forehead. "You watch your step… little boy." And with that said, she left with her attendant.

"I wish you'd try to behave nicely," the black-haired woman sighed. "Because, of course, _I'm _the one everybody complains to."

It was only after the two women had left that Konohamaru returned to his senses and snapped, "I don't like being called 'little boy', either!" Immediately afterwards, somebody bumped into the boy, knocking him off his feet and causing him to roll over to the wall. Sitting up and rubbing his sore head, the boy glared at the one who crashed into him, who was also on the floor. "Why don't you watch where you're going?!"

The one who crashed into the Third Hokage's grandson, however, turned out to be our favorite orange-clad ninja. "Why don't _you _watch where you're standing?!" he growled as he got back up, rubbing his sore face. Then he recognized the one he was talking to. "Oh, hey there, Konohamaru!"

The younger boy's mood turned upside-down the moment he saw his idol-slash-rival. "Naruto! Long time no see!" he greeted warmly.

Naruto then began looking around the hallway he was in. "Have you seen an old lady with a nasty temper around here?" he asked. "Actually, she doesn't look that old, but she is."

Konohamaru's mood turned sour again. "I've seen her, alright." Then, right before the orange-clad boy could ask where Tsunade was, the younger boy asked, "Who is she, anyway?"

"Well, it's a long story…" Naruto trailed off, but then he snapped back to his hot-blooded self and let out a scream of rage. "I haven't got time to tell you now! I have to get her to the hospital, pronto!"

While the orange-clad boy walked back and forth, grumbling to himself, the Third Hokage's grandson asked, "The hospital? Why?"

"She's supposed to be some hotshot medical ninja. Everyone's making such a great deal about her being Hokage! Has she forgotten what she came here for?!"

"Hokage…?"

Naruto turned back to look at the younger boy. "Yeah, she's the Fifth Hokage! Big deal! I just care about what she promised to do!"

The revelation came like a shock to Konohamaru. He now realized that the time of his grandfather was completely past and a new leader was to be looked up to and respected. But still, his mind was in denial about it all. "No… You're lying, Naruto!" he shouted. "It's not true!" Absolutely hysterical, he ran out the door, down the stairs and away from the building.

* * *

><p>Tsunade sat in front of the village elders, Koharu and Homura, while listening to the responsibilities of being the leader of a whole village. "Listen carefully, Tsunade," old lady Koharu started. "We must send word to the Feudal Lord that the Fifth Hokage has officially arrived in the village. All the preparations must begin at once for the installation ceremony."<p>

"Can't we just skip the ceremonies?" Tsunade asked. "They are such a bore."

"_Tsunade_!" Koharu suddenly snapped.

"Okay, okay…" the busty woman gave in. "It comes with the job, I guess – one of the perks of being Hokage."

Homura then looked at two chunin in the room. "You two, send out the word," he ordered. "Everyone in the village must be made aware that in a few days from now, we will officially welcome the Fifth Hokage."

After all that was taken care of, Tsunade and Shizune left the meeting room and headed towards the exit. "I hate all this…" the gambling sannin sighed tiredly. "My body's sore and stiff. All I want right now is to sit down and relax with a nice, hot cup of tea."

But just as the two women walked out on one of the outward staircases, Naruto, who had waited at the top of the staircase, intercepted them. "Not so fast, Grandma!" he said. "Before you start sucking down some tea, isn't there _something _you've forgotten?"

But it just so happened that the busty woman _had _forgotten it. "What would _that_ be?" she wondered.

"Come on! Are you kidding me?! What about Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke and Bushy Brow?"

Sighing, Tsunade recalled, "Oh yeah, I _did _forget about them…" and was on her way down the stairs.

"Well, if it isn't Naruto…"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Naruto turned his head to see Shikamaru Nara walking up the staircase along with his father, who looked like an older version of him except with scars on the right side of his face, a beard, and wearing a chunin vest. "What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be somewhere stuffing your face?" he asked.

"How about you? You're usually still asleep this time of day," Naruto replied.

"Very funny," the lazy boy replied sarcastically. "My dad asked me to come along with him, but don't ask me why."

The orange-clad boy then turned his attention back to the adults. "Hey, do they know each other?" he wondered aloud.

Shikamaru's father, Shikaku Nara, bowed respectfully to Tsunade and greeted with a smile, "Greetings, Lady Tsunade. It's been a long time."

"You're that kid from the Nara family!" the busty woman remembered, smiling back. "I hope you're still taking good care of the deer. I made a lot of good medicine out of those antlers."

"Oh yes, the deer are fine."

As the grownups talked, Shikamaru whispered to Naruto, "Who's that blonde girl, and why is she talking to my dad like she's his boss?"

"Didn't you hear? She's the Fifth Hokage," Naruto whispered back, causing his friend to gasp in surprise. "And she's no girl; she's actually an old lady in her fifties." Shikamaru gasped again. Naruto then noticed that the two women were leaving for the hospital and followed them, leaving his friend with the promise, "I'll show you my new killer technique later!"

"_That's _really the Fifth Hokage?" Shikamaru wondered aloud.

"Watch it, Shikamaru," Shikaku said, giving his son a sly grin. "That woman is one of the strongest ninjas you'll ever meet. Don't let her good looks fool you; there's a reason she's the only female member of the legendary sannin."

"Okay…" the lazy boy sighed. "But I mean, a _woman _Hokage? Not to sound prejudiced or anything, but is that such a good idea?" He looked up at his father, who was giving him a look of doubt. "Come on – you know what I mean. You can _never _figure them out." Images of Ino and Sakura laughing like evil witches entered his mind. "You never know where you stand with them. The smallest of things could put you on their bad side. And always playing their little mind games with you, trying to get you to do what they want… They're just a big pain, basically."

With a big sigh, Shikaku wrapped his right arm around his son's shoulders and told, "Listen, Shikamaru. Keep in mind that without women, you and I wouldn't even exist. And take my word for it – they make men better people than we'd ever be without them. Unlike us, even the strongest of them isn't afraid to be gentle with the man she loves."

_It's funny to hear him talking like this, tied to mom's apron strings the way he is, _Shikamaru thought.

Releasing his son from his grip, Shikaku walked over to the entrance to the current floor they were on. "Someday, you'll understand. Now c'mon – let's get this over with. You know how your mother will chew us out if we're late."

Shikamaru just shook his head and followed his father. "Well, if a woman has made _him _a better person, I'd hate to see what he was like before…" he muttered to himself.

* * *

><p>"May I come in?"<p>

Sakura was startled when she heard an unfamiliar voice in the hospital room. Standing up from her chair at Sasuke's bedside, she looked up at Tsunade and took in her features. "Uh, who're you?" she asked, mentally impressed about the woman's beauty.

"Sakura! Sakura!" Naruto cried out cheerfully as he ran into the hospital room and up to his pink-haired friend, Shizune following behind him at a slower pace. "You'll never believe it! She's gonna make everything okay again!" With a pat on her shoulder, he gave her a reassuring look and laugh. "Don't worry; Sasuke's gonna be all right now."

As Tsunade walked up to the bedside, she noticed a vase with two flowers in it standing on the bedside table. _Those flowers weren't picked the same day, _she noted. _Looks like this girl has been visiting him for a while now._

Sakura then turned to face the busty woman. "You must be the one Guy-sensei told me about," she assumed. "Please… if you could save Sasuke…"

"Well, I'll see what I can do," Tsunade replied as she put a hand on the Uchiha's forehead and began healing him.

All eyes were locked on to Sasuke as the sannin's hand glowed with healing chakra. Finally, after two minutes, the glow faded and Sasuke slowly opened his eyes. Sakura's eyes leaked tears the moment she saw her crush sit up in bed with a blank expression. "Sasuke!" she cried and wrapped her arms around him in a loving hug.

"Glad you're back!" Naruto greeted.

But then the orange-clad boy took a closer look at the sight before him. While many would consider Sakura hugging Sasuke a sign of how happy she is that her friend is completely healed of all his injuries, if one took a broader view in, like Naruto just did, the truth could be seen. The affection in the girl's hug was beyond that of friendship. No… it was genuine love. The same applied to her tears. Naruto knew everything now. His crush on Sakura, his fantasies about the two of them eating lunch together, his dreams of just kissing her once… they were all too good to be true. But still, he couldn't help but give his two friends a sad smile. He knew he would go nowhere with the pink-haired girl, so the best he could do was just giving them a silent blessing.

As the orang-clad boy walked out of the room, Tsunade looked at him with a knowing smile. _The little tough guy has a soft spot, I see, _she thought.

Naruto then stuck his hand back into the room and signaled with his finger for the two women to follow him. "You're not done yet," he said.

"Hey there, Naruto! Long time no see!"

Naruto turned at the sound of the familiar voice and smiled brightly upon seeing Konran. "Long time no see, indeed," he greeted. "What're you doing here?"

"I have been going here regularly for these last couple of weeks," Konran answered, slightly clutching his chest. "There was a reason why I had a lot of trouble showing up at the Chunin Exam finals, you see."

Naruto crossed his arms in thought. "Is that so? I thought you'd be at a hundred percent, what with Sairento's healing ability."

The blue-haired boy shook his head. "Her skills are not enough, I am afraid."

Having eavesdropped on the conversation, Tsunade then interjected, "How about _my _skills, then? That _is _why I'm here, after all."

Konran gave the gambling sannin a long, hard look, trying to read her. He then nodded and sat on a nearby chair. "Do your best," he said as he lifted up his shirt.

Tsunade kneeled in front of the boy, placed her hand on his stomach, and began using her healing Jutsu. _His organs have been infected by evil chakra, _she thought grimly. _I know this particular chakra. This is Orochimaru's doing. No normal healing Jutsu could cure this. Good thing my Jutsu isn't normal. _The glow vanished and she stood up with a smile on her face. "That should do it. You are now back at a hundred percent."

Konran felt incredibly well, something that he had not been for a long time. Getting up from his chair, he bowed thankfully and turned to leave. "See you later, Naruto!" he called as he left.

Next up was Kakashi, who was easily taken care off and was now sitting up in bed with Tsunade berating him. "Disgraceful," she sighed. "To be taken completely out of the game by two lowlife punks like that… I thought you were supposed to be the best?"

"…Sorry to… disappoint…" Kakashi apologized.

"One more, and then you're done," Naruto stated.

Guy, who had been anxiously waiting outside of Kakashi's room, suddenly burst in. "It's Rock Lee! He's right next door! Right next door!" he said loudly.

Exiting one room and entering another, the group saw Rock Lee sitting on a chair in an empty hospital room. "Lee!" Guy shouted cheerfully. "Look who's here to see you! It's Lady Tsunade herself!"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes as she looked Lee over, taking in how mildly-disturbing the similarities between him and his sensei were. "Is this one of _your _students, Guy?" she asked, even though she had an idea of what the answer might be.

"YYYYES!" Guy answered. "He's more than a student; he's like a son!"

The busty woman then turned her gaze onto the orange-clad boy next to her. "Naruto… do you really have time to be dawdling around here?" she asked.

Naruto wondered about what she meant, but then he remembered. "Oh yeah, you're right," he recalled. "I'm supposed to meet Iruka-sensei."

"Better run along, then."

Naruto nodded and took off to Ichiraku, leaving with the words, "I'll let you take it from here!"

* * *

><p>After lots of waiting for his adult lifelong friend to arrive, Naruto and Iruka were now eating at their favorite ramen shop. "Naruto… you've sure come a long way since the time you were just a kid trying to earn one of these," the latter said reminiscently, tapping a finger on his headband.<p>

Naruto stopped his ramen-slurping and grinned. "I'll say!" he replied. "I'm glad you noticed. Admit it – aren't you glad you gave me this headband? It looks pretty darn good on me, don't you think?"

"I wouldn't be so cocky," Iruka chuckled as he took in another mouthful of ramen. "You've still got a long way to go. Just be careful that you don't get a swelled head." After the boy gave an annoyed huff, the chunin gave him a serious stare. "I want you to listen carefully. Konoha is up against the wall. We lost the Third Hokage, as well as many of our best ninjas. Our strengths are down to less than half, but even so, we still have to carry through with all the missions we're given."

"Why do you have to?" Naruto asked curiously. "Turn them down if you don't have the manpower."

"Use your head, Naruto. If we start turning down missions, it would be the same thing as telling the world that our village is weak. So we all have to pitch in – even the walking wounded like Kakashi."

Turning back to his meal, Naruto stated, "That's too bad. You're up against the wall, alright."

"It concerns you, too, hotshot!" Iruka snapped. "You may be asked to carry out missions, too, and to fight battles you're not ready for yet."

"Oh, I'm ready – but you can't expect me to fight on an empty stomach."

Naruto's remark made the chunin laugh. "I guess you haven't changed _that _much." He then patted the boy on the head and said, "I know you'll do your best."

* * *

><p>"No one will hold it against you if you give up on being a ninja."<p>

The tension was already heavy enough in the hospital room, but when Tsunade dropped that bombshell, it felt as if an actual bombshell was dropped. "But… but you're not serious?" Guy asked hopefully. "You're exaggerating, right, Lady Tsunade?"

The gambling sannin then stated grimly, "His injury has left numerous bone fragments imbedded in his spinal column. It's a miracle he can still move at all. He's physically incapable of carrying out the duties of a ninja."

"T-This is some kind of test, right?" Guy asked, trying to make his protégé not lose hope over the fact that the worst case scenario might be a reality. "You don't really mean that…"

"Even if I was able to operate…"

"Don't listen to her, Lee!" Guy then shouted, desperate as all hell. "That's not Lady Tsunade! It's an impostor! It's some kind of… demon that's transformed itself to look like her! Who are you?! What do you want?!"

A very serious glare from Tsunade and a depressed shake of the head from Shizune made the youthful teacher shut his mouth and stop trying to deny the truth. Lee, very shocked upon hearing that his life as a ninja may be permanently over, asked, "So I have no chance? It is hopeless?"

"No one but I could even _attempt _the operation," Tsunade told. "But even with my skills, the risks would be enormous."

"What risks?" Guy asked.

"The chances of it being successful are fifty-fifty at best. And if it should fail… he'll die."

Guy fought back tears once he heard this. All the training that Lee had done in his life, all the training he had done while injured to stay in shape, all the bad-tasting medicine he had to take… it could possibly all be for naught. Now Lee only had one choice. He could either just give up all of his hopes and dreams and settle down, find a job that does not require much physical labor, and live out the rest of his life knowing that he once had the potential to become a great ninja. Or… he could undergo the operation and risk losing his life.

While panting hard from all the pressure put on his shoulders, Lee stood up, grabbed his crutch, and slowly walked out of the room and back to his home. No 'ifs', no 'maybes', no 'buts'… he just left without another word.

"If I had known you were gonna do this," Guy said to Tsunade, "I would have never let you see him."

"Don't say that!" Shizune snapped, but her mistress shushed her.

"I understand your pain," Tsunade pitied. "Believe me; I get no pleasure from this. But he needs to know the truth and to know it now. A choice has to be made – putting it off won't make it any easier."

What will Rock Lee choose – giving up on his dreams, or risk his very life?

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><p>dopliss: And that does it for this chapter. See you not next week, but the week after!<p>

Mizuki: Don't make promises you can't keep.

dopliss: Meanwhile, I'm gonna get a lot of Naruto on the brain from playing _Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3_!


	74. Chapter 74 Konohamaru's grief

**dopliss: Hi again, guys! Today's week has been fun, mostly because A) I have a break from school, and B) I got **_**Lego City: Undercover**_** and **_**Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time**_**! (The latter of which, I'd like to say, came out here in Europe a month and a half after its release in the U.S.!)**

**Mizuki (smirking): Aaaaaand?**

**(dopliss grumbles)**

**Mizuki: Say it.**

**dopliss: And also, sorry for not updating two weeks ago as I promised I would. (To Mizuki) You happy?**

**Mizuki: Not yet. You still owe me money from that bet you just lost.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. My newest games have been invested in well!**

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><p>With another great day in the leaf village arisen and with a cloudless sky above him, Torabu joyfully skipped along the streets, wondering what kind of stuff that he could to spend the day. After having woken up and eating his breakfast consisting of instant ramen, he left his apartment along with a snoring Takai, who was cuddling one of her sake bottles that would be long-lasting to anyone else. Strangely enough, Fukigen had suddenly and wordlessly vanished ever since they got home to the village. He did not mind, however.<p>

Turning a corner, the cat-boy nearly bumped into one of his fellow ninjas. "Oh. Good morning, Bushy Brow!" he greeted.

Rock Lee, once he remembered whom was standing in front of him and speaking to him (the troublemaking ninja left less of an impression on the boy in the green jumpsuit than certain others), he greeted back, "Good morning. Torabu, was it?"

"Yeah, that's me," the cat-boy chuckled. He then noticed that Lee was still walking around with his crutch. "Haven't you talked to the new Hokage about your injuries yet?"

Lee put on his best façade. What Tsunade had told him yesterday had left quite an impact on him, and he was worried about what would happen if he either accepted or refused the operation. For now, he would just sugarcoat the truth. "Yes… I have spoken to her, and we are in the middle of figuring something out."

Torabu smiled brightly. "Good to hear," he said, giving a friendly and light punch to the other boy's right shoulder. "Now, you'd better get back into peak condition as soon as possible! Then, maybe we could spar together sometime."

Lee gave a small smile. "Yes. Maybe we could."

It was at that moment that the cat-boy spotted Udon and Moegi running down the street, panicked expressions on their faces. He quickly stepped into their way, and while they were grinding to a halt in front of him, he asked, "What's the rush, you two? Got into any trouble?"

"Good to see you, Torabu!" Moegi panted, looking up at the troublemaking ninja with worry in her eyes. "It's terrible! Completely terrible!"

Curious, Torabu asked, "What's terrible?"

"It's Konohamaru!" Udon told. "He's barricaded himself!"

The cat-boy crossed his arms in thought. "Sounds serious…" he muttered. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"He won't listen to us," Udon told, accompanied by Moegi nodding. "We figured he wanted to listen to you or Naruto, so we ran off in search for either of you."

"Well, what're we waiting for, then? Let's go!" With that said, Torabu ran after the two minors towards the village's towering building. Quickly recalling his earlier conversation, the cat-boy turned to look over his shoulder and shouted to Rock Lee, "See you later, Bushy Brow! Get well as soon as possible!"

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><p>Inside the huge structure that served as the office for the village's council, Shizune and two chunin were standing outside the door leading to the Hokage's room, the latter two pounding on the door. "That's enough, now! We don't wanna have to break it down!" one of them shouted.<p>

"Go ahead and try it! See what happens!" Konohamaru shouted back from the other side of the door. "I'm the grandson of the Third Hokage! If you're going against me, you're going against my…!" He trailed off, swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat at the mention of his grandfather. "You'll be going against the Hokage!"

"Lady Tsunade has important work to do, and she can't do it until she gets in there," Shizune stated, followed by Tonton's agreeing oinks.

The two chunin gave each other a nod and then rammed themselves into the door. While it didn't budge, a small hatch above the door opened and dropped several marble-sized balls, which suddenly exploded in a big pink cloud that caused the two men to sneeze and cough uncontrollably. "Pepper smoke bombs!" Konohamaru shouted. "And you've got some work to do if you try coming in! The whole room is booby-trapped!"

As the smoke cleared and the hatch closed, the two chunin slowly regained their breath. "Honorable grandson…! Even you…!" one of them said, but succumbed to another coughing and sneezing fit.

"There are some things even you can't get away with!" the other shouted. "Now come out of there!"

"Shut up and go away!"

It was then that the three adults saw the new Hokage walking towards them, an irritated expression on her face. "Isn't it a little too early for all this racket?" Tsunade asked. "It's giving me a screaming headache." Tonton then walked up to her feet, and while she was picking him up, he grunted a lot to her. As if she somehow understood the pig, she turned to the two chunin and asked, "You two can't handle one little kid? Get him out of there."

"But, Ma'am, he's the grandson of the Third Hokage," one of the men protested.

"What do I care? I'm the granddaughter of the _First _Hokage! _I'm _the one you need to worry about now!" The two men could not argue with Tsnade's logic. "From what I can see, it might do the brat some good to be roughed up a little. Now get him outta there!"

The two chunin would have resorted to using Jutsus had it not been for the timely arrival of Torabu, Moegi and Udon. Grinding to a halt in front of the adults, the cat-boy pleaded, "Please don't do anything reckless like that. Let me try and talk to him."

The busty woman turned to look at the boy. "Are you friends with him?" she asked.

Nodding, the troublemaking ninja repeated, "Just let me try talking to him. I'm sure he'll listen to me."

Giving an annoyed huff, Tsunade said, "I want him out of there by the end of the day." And with that said, she left, Shizune following behind her.

"Be careful, kid. He's booby-trapped the whole room," one of the chunin warned as he and his friend left the young kids to do what they had to do.

Torabu became curious when he heard the mention of traps. He carefully stepped up to the door, pressed his hand against it hard, and then leapt backwards in order to dodge several steel washbasins dropping down from the same hatch. "This'll be tougher than I thought…" he muttered to himself as he saw the hatch close again, probably so it could get rearmed.

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><p>Lee leaned against the railing of one of the small bridges in the village, looking down at the stream while mulling over whether to get the surgery or not. That single decision was the most important and decisive choice that he had ever had gotten. Every time he convinced himself to undergo the operation to get back at full strength, the thought that the Grim Reaper would be looming over him while he lay motionlessly on the operating table, ready to take his soul to the otherworld should he die, was enough to scare him away from the decision. And that formula repeated itself every time he thought about his choice.<p>

"Lee! There you are!"

The jumpsuit-wearing boy straightened himself and turned to his right, where he saw a certain pink-haired girl walk up to him, holding a bouquet of lilies in her arms. "Oh. Hi, Sakura," he greeted.

Sakura stopped right in front of the boy and held out the bouquet. "These are for you," she said.

Lee was taken by surprise. He might have been making friends with the girl in front of him, but he never thought that she would give him flowers. In fact, he was so surprised that he looked around to see if she could be talking to someone else. But the only ones on the bridge right now were him and Sakura. Pointing at himself, he asked, "For… for _me_? Really?" His mouth then broke into a big smile when he saw her nod her head. "Thank you very much!" But when he reached for the bouquet, his crutch slipped out from under him, and he fell into her. Fortunately, she managed to catch him without either dropping the flowers or falling herself. "Sorry about that, Sakura."

"No sweat," she replied as she straightened the boy back up and let his back lean against the railing. As she gave him the lilies and picked up his crutch, she asked, "Did you hear? Sasuke's at home now. He's recovering nicely, and the doctors say he'll be back to his old self in no time, all thanks to Lady Tsunade."

As Lee looked down at the flowers, he smiled and replied, "I am glad to hear it. That is good news for everyone."

Sakura gave the boy his crutch back and smiled warmly at him. "She's everything they say she is," she said. "You should have her take a look at you. I'm sure she'll help speed up your recovery."

The jumpsuit-wearing boy took one look at her happy face, and immediately decided to keep the bitter truth out of the spotlight. "It could be," he replied vaguely.

"Meanwhile, if there's ever anything I can do to help, you only have to ask me, okay?"

Lee's cheeks went slightly pink at her proposal. "I appreciate that. Thank you, Sakura," he said, bowing in gratitude.

This little happy moment had cheered him up. But when the pink-haired girl left him, she was unaware of the frown that grew on the boy's face.

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><p>As Tsunade and Shizune (who was carrying a lot of books in her arms) walked down the streets of Konoha, the former of the two ladies looked around with boredom in her eyes. "Look at this place – not a single gambling hall anywhere…" she sighed.<p>

"Well, you don't have time for that, anyway," Shizune stated. "There's an awful lot of work waiting to be done."

The gambling sannin shook her head at the apparent lack of places for adult activities. "Nowhere to gamble or get a drink… What a boring little dump Konoha is. It's no fun at all – just like the Third Hokage."

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune scolded.

The busty woman sighed again. "I'm exhausted… I just wanna sit down and have a drink somewhere… Is that too much to ask?"

That was when the black-haired woman's patience ran out. She immediately stopped walking and said, "If that's what you want – if it's _absolutely necessary _– I'll find you a place where you can have a drink, alright?"

Tsunade instantly stopped and turned to look at her attendant. "…Really?" she asked, eyebrows raised out of curiosity.

When Shizune told that her condition for doing that was that Tsunade immediately began studying, the busty woman accepted. But only when they arrived at their location did the new Hokage realize that her attendant had tricked her; the place she had brought her mistress to was a smalltime restaurant that did not serve any form of alcohol. And now Tsunade sat there at a table, glaring out the windows with all of the books spread out in front of her and a smiling Shizune sitting across her.

"Go ahead!" Shizune goaded, holding back the urge to laugh out loud over the fact that she managed to outsmart her mistress. "You wanted a drink, so go on – have a drink!"

Tsunade turned her gaze to her attendant, who was now sipping from her cup. "Look, Shizune," she replied dryly. "A cup of _tea _was not exactly what I had in mind."

The black-haired woman finished her sip and smirked. "Oh, I knew what you had in mind, alright. I think sometimes I know you better than you know yourself."

"What does _that _mean?"

"A part of you was relieved that you couldn't get into the Hokage's room because that meant you wouldn't have to do any work, right? That's why you left it to Torabu, hoping you could get a day off."

Resting her head on her right hand, Tsunade replied dully, "Maybe."

Now that that was out of the way, Shizune decided to get her mistress working. "Here's the updated roster of the newest ninjas," she said, placing a red book in front of the blonde woman. "You should really go over it – there have been a lot of changes in personnel. You'll need to familiarize yourself with them." She then held her right index finger up and said in the tone of a strict mother, "You have a lot of work to do!"

Picking up the roster, Tsunade sighed and said, "It's all such a bore…"

Shizune then shifted her focus to the delicacy that had been delivered to their table along with their cups of tea. "Look! They have sweet dumplings!" she said cheerfully and grabbed one of the sticks that held the snacks.

The busty woman, however, scowled. "You _know _those things make me gag!" she hissed.

* * *

><p>"Thanks again for helping me, Hinata," Torabu thanked.<p>

Hinata had pretty much no idea why she now was standing in front of the door to the Hokage's room. One moment she was training her Taijutsu abilities, the next Torabu shows up and asks for her help, and now she is here. "Um… what exactly do I have to do here?" she asked.

The cat-boy pointed at the door with his thumb. "I need you to use your Byakugan to find any secret entrances to the room behind that door," he explained. "Please do it. It's pretty important."

The timid girl nodded, activated her Kekkei Genkai, and scanned the door in front of her. "Let's see… hmm…" Her eyes then went back to normal as she turned to look at the troublemaking ninja and shook her head. "I'm sorry. There are no human-sized ways in or out of that room except for this door."

Torabu crossed his arms and thought of another way in. "What about any ways in or out that _aren't _human-sized?" he asked.

"Well…" The blue-haired girl pointed at right above the door. "There is a small hatch right above the door. It leads into the room, but you would need to be smaller than a newborn child to fit in there."

Torabu smiled and gave her a 'thumbs-up'. "Thanks for all your help, Hinata!" he said. "And of course, your efforts will be rewarded."

Hinata raised an eyebrow when the cat-boy suddenly gave her a piece of paper. But when she looked at it, her entire face went crimson. "T-T-This is…!" she gasped as she looked at the picture of Naruto in his boxers (taken back at the hot spring resort as a memory).

"You're welcome!" the troublemaking ninja smiled as the girl walked away, mesmerized by the photo.

* * *

><p>Tsunade turned over another page in the roster and checked out the profile of the ninja, who just happened to be Hinata. "Hmm… Eight D-rank missions… three C-rank missions…" she muttered. "Exactly like Kurenai's own team. It's not hard to see what the Third Hokage was thinking." She chuckled to herself as she turned another page, this one showing Shikamaru's profile. "This team is a mirror image of their parents' team."<p>

"I see…" Shizune nodded as her mistress flipped yet another page. "Oh! Look how well-balanced this team is! Each member has their own specialty."

Tsunade got a very bad taste in her mouth. The profile that she was now looking at was the one describing Rock Lee, the person whose life could be forfeit if he accepted the operation. Even the notes made her feel sorry for him.

_**His Taijutsu has improved dramatically this year. Obtained critical injury in the preliminary Chunin Exam.**_

Sighing, Tsunade closed the book and stood up. "My neck's getting stiff. I need some fresh air," she said and left the restaurant.

As she walked, the gambling sannin eventually came across a small river, with petals floating down the stream. Following the trail of where the petals came from, she spotted Lee, who was picking the petals off of one of the lilies that Sakura had given him. "Success…" he muttered at every second petal he tore off. It did not take a genius to figure out that he was seeing if luck was with him or not if he should take the operation.

But when the second to last petal was picked, it was one that meant success. The boy now stared at the final petal, which meant certain failure.

Tsunade could not take the boy's obvious pain and mental conflict. It was time to act!

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><p>Konohamaru sat in the darkness of the Hokage's room, sighing when he heard his outermost booby trap go off and spray the other side of the door with peppered smoke. But then, to his surprise, he saw something small shuffle out from where he would rearm the trap. Narrowing his eyes to see what it was, he realized that it was a small white kitten. <em>What's a cat doing here?<em> he wondered.

Five seconds later, a puff of smoke surrounded the cat, and when it dissolved, Torabu stood in its place. "Hey," he greeted with a small smile on his lips.

Konohamaru glared at the cat-boy, resting his chin on his knees. "Go away," he said coldly. "This is the Third Hokage's room – no one gets in except for him."

"I got in here, didn't I?" the troublemaking ninja replied as he walked up to the younger boy's left side and sat down. "And besides, _you're _in here as well."

"I'm defending it. As his grandson, that's the least I can do for him."

Torabu sighed and leaned his head back, turning his gaze to the roof of the room. "That's not the real reason, is it?" he asked. "You're mad about something, right?" He returned his gaze to the boy next to him. "Or is it some_one_?"

Konohamaru shifted uncomfortably and growled. "…It's way too early to get a new Hokage…" he muttered.

"Aha… So _that's _why you're upset. You don't like old lady Tsunade, is that it?"

The younger boy shook his head. "No, no – it's not that. It's just that… pretty soon, no one will call me 'honorable grandson' anymore. I'll just be plain Konohamaru."

Torabu tilted his head in confusion as his tail twirled around. "What's wrong with being plain Konohamaru?" he asked. "I thought you hated being called 'honorable grandson'."

Konohamaru sighed and wrapped his arms around his knees. "They'll all soon forget about my grandpa," he stated. "They'll forget about everything that he's done for the whole village, and then he'll be tossed into the back of the closet like some old shoe."

The cat-boy nodded his head. "Oh… now I see…" He then smiled and said, "That's a silly idea. No one will ever forget about the Third Hokage!"

"They'll forget him… I'm sure they will."

Torabu sighed again and put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "Listen, Konohamaru," he started. "Your grandpa did a lot of awesome things for this village. Heck, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today. There's no way, no how, people are _ever _gonna forget about him, because he's got two very special places where people will never forget about him."

Konohamaru looked up at the elder boy, curiosity replacing the sadness in his eyes. "Two places?" he asked.

The cat-boy nodded and continued. "The first place is always there when you're walking down the streets and looking up. You'll always see him there, along with all the other guys who've led and protected this village."

The younger of the two boys nodded. "And where's the other place?" he asked.

Torabu chuckled and gently poked Konohamaru in the chest. "Right there," he answered. "No matter what, he will always be remembered… because he's in everyone's hearts. Everyone will tell their kids about the Third Hokage and his many amazing feats, and then they will tell their children, who will tell _their _children, and so forth. Even long after we're both gone, even if this village gets a sixth Hokage or a twentieth Hokage, everyone will always remember your grandpa and his predecessors."

For once during that conversation, Konohamaru smiled. He found sense in the older boy's words and became convinced. "I guess you're right," he said, standing up. "Thanks for cheering me up, Torabu."

"No problem," the troublemaking ninja replied as he stood up as well. "Now, how do we get outta this room?"

It was at that exact moment that Tsunade arrived at the other side of the Hokage's room. When she approached the door and the washbasins fell, she just swiped them all away and pushed the door open. Then, she quickly removed the armed paper bombs and punched the furniture used to block the door away. She then walked into the room, effortlessly dodging a kunai and crushing the boulder that would have taken out any normal man. And then, she stopped at a bookshelf, grabbed a big brown book, and slowly walked out of the room, leaving behind two awestruck boys.

Quickly recovering from the sight of the busty woman – as the saying goes – being a total badass, Torabu ran out into the hallway and called, "Hey, Lady Tsunade!" He was fortunate when he saw her stop walking. "I believe Konohamaru's got something he wanna say to you."

Konohamaru walked out of the room, as well, sheepishly rubbing his right arm. "I'm sorry… for what I did…" he apologized.

"Apology accepted," Tsunade replied and walked onwards.

The troublemaking ninja then turned to the younger boy with a smile. "C'mon – let's go to Ichiraku's for some ramen," he invited. "Sakura still owes me."

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><p>Shizune followed Tonton as the little pig sniffed the ground in search for Tsunade's whereabouts. The black-haired woman became concerned when her mistress had left the restaurant, and she became suspicious when she took too long and realized that she had run away to goof off somewhere. Fortunately, the mammal in front of her could easily track her down.<p>

Her search led her to a small café in the middle of the village. Picking up the pig, she entered the building and immediately spotted her mistress sitting at a table. Putting on her best scolding-face, she walked up to the busty woman and said, "Aha! So there you are. We caught you."

Tsunade looked up at her attendant with a bored glare. And that was when Shizune noticed the book that lay open on the table, showing a picture of the human body underneath the skin and a spinal cord. When she realized what this meant, the black-haired woman gave a big gasp of shock. "Lady Tsunade, are you actually _studying_?!" Even Tonton freaked out when he heard that.

"Be quiet, will you?" Tsunade hushed as she returned her gaze to the book. "I'm trying to concentrate here."

That statement did nothing but make Shizune panic some more. "What did you say?!" she gasped again. "You've _never_ concentrated on anything but gambling!"

The gambling sannin sighed. "Oh, just calm down," she said calmly. "I was thinking about that medical ninja named Kabuto – specifically his body's ability to create new cells. If I could apply that technique to a patient…"

Shizune, now calm, understood what her mistress was trying to accomplish. "You mean Rock Lee, don't you?" she assumed.

The busty woman nodded. "Even if it means only increasing his chances from 50 to 51%, I think it may be worth a try."

"But, the success of that technique depends so much on the user. There's no guarantee that you'd be able to pull it off."

Tsunade smirked and poured herself another cup of sake. "Only one way to find out," she replied. "I mean, I _am _the Fifth Hokage, after all."

Shizune was nothing short of impressed over her mistress's show of responsibility. So proud was she, in fact, that she ordered a new bottle of sake for both her and her blonde superior. "Just this once, I'll make an exception," she said with a smile as she sat down at the opposite end of the table.

And so, Tsunade began her research with strong hopes that the operation would be a success.

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><p>dopliss: Ooh… the drama is killing me! Fortunately, we'll get back to the fun stuff after next chapter.<p>

Mizuki: …However long that'll take.

dopliss: Oh, be quiet, you!


	75. Chapter 75 Rock Lee's choice

**dopliss: Pop quiz! What's this chapter gonna be about? (To Mizuki) Care to make an answer, Mizuki?**

**Mizuki: Nah. Just let them figure it out themselves.**

**Dopliss (pouting): Spoilsport…**

**Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the rightful owner of the Naruto franchise.**

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><p>As the sun edged closer and closer down the horizon and the villagers prepared for the Fifth Hokage's inauguration that would happen tomorrow, Rock Lee sat at the little balcony positioned atop of the school with a sad frown on his face. The encouraging words that he had heard from Torabu and Sakura yesterday had only made the dangerous choice that he had much worse to decide on. And what if Tsunade's advice of giving up on being a ninja was the better choice? Could he really give up his dreams of becoming the world's greatest Taijutsu-only ninja?<p>

And most importantly, what would his sensei say if he gave up?

* * *

><p><em>A younger Lee stood outside in the school's practice grounds, making a hand-seal in a desperate attempt at using a Jutsu that did not require physical combat. "Clone Jutsu!" he cried. Unfortunately for him, nothing happened, as always. He then made more hand-seals and tried another technique. "Transformation Jutsu!" Once again, nothing happened.<em>

"_Hey, kid!"_

_The young boy turned around and spotted Guy, who was flashing one of his trademark smiles. "The glory of youth is in its unbridled passion," he stated, giving the boy a 'thumbs-up'. "You just keep chipping away at it, son! You'll be a splendid ninja someday!"_

_Lee, who had not met Guy before that moment, just stared with curious eyes as he wondered who he was while being impressed by how confident he was._

"_Grab hold of life by both horns – that's what youth is for! Goodbye!" And with that, the eccentric man walked away laughing, leaving the boy in confusion._

* * *

><p>Lee sighed in nostalgic happiness as he recalled the next time when he met his sensei and role model. Specifically, it was the time when he and his two teammates first became an official team.<p>

As we already have seen that moment, let us skip to the part where we left the flashback.

* * *

><p>"<em>What?! What is so funny?!" Lee snapped at Neji after he had scoffed about the bushy-browed boy's dream of becoming a great ninja without Genjutsu nor Ninjutsu. "You think I am joking?! I mean it! I will be a splendid ninja just by using Taijutsu and nothing else!"<em>

_The Hyuga prodigy just gave his future rival a taunting smirk and replied, "You nitwit. Without Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, you can hardly call yourself a ninja, can you?" He chuckled. "Do you remember when they told you that you were the first person to graduate who could only use Taijutsu? They weren't saying that because it was impressive; they only meant it was unusual."_

_Lee could not come up with a counterargument to that statement, so he bowed his head in defeat. That was when Guy spoke up again. "Listen up! If you've got the passion, that isn't necessarily the case." His three students looked up at him with curious looks as he continued. "With the right amount of passion and some healthy competition to spur each other on, you'll all be great ninjas. You still have to work your butts off, though."_

_Lee was in awe at his new sensei's words of wisdom and encouragement. He was so inspired by those words that his previous feelings of anger and doubt disappeared, and a big smile grew on his face._

* * *

><p><em>Later that week, the three genin that were under Guy's tutelage had followed their sensei to the rooftops and were staring down at him from a higher roof. Minutes later, the reason why the youthful teacher was standing there showed up in the shape of Kakashi, who had his nose buried in his copy of an installment of the 'Make-Out Paradise' series. "Late again," Guy frowned as his rival came to a halt in front of him. "This time by 17 minutes and 32 seconds."<em>

"_How about we skip this today?" Kakashi suggested, his voice dull and tired._

_But Guy was insistent on having another competition today. "We've tied each other at 48 wins," he stated. "Today's faceoff will put one of us in the lead."_

_The infamous 'copycat ninja' sighed and put his book away. "You're not gonna take 'no' for an answer, are you?" he assumed. "Alright then, it's my turn to choose a challenge, isn't it?"_

_Guy was pumped, ready for anything that his rival might challenge him to. "So what'll it be?" he asked. "A round of Taijutsu? A 100 meter dash? Holding our breath? Or is it an eating contest?"_

_Kakashi did not want to do something so extreme today, so he thought of a simple challenge. "Alright… I've got one."_

_The youthful teacher gave a very confident smile. "Lay it on me!" he dared._

_Kakashi then held up his right hand and declared the challenge. "Rock-Paper-Scissors."_

_While Lee, who was very interested in how his sensei and his rival would duel, nearly freaked out over the anticlimactic showdown he was going to witness, Guy, while also disappointed, took it in a less dramatic way. "Are you nuts?!" he nearly shouted at Kakashi. "_That's _what you choose?!"_

"_You know, it's not all about skill," Kakashi stated calmly. "Sometimes you need a little luck. It'll be a good way to test your powers of observation."_

_That little explanation was enough to calm the hot-blooded teacher down. "I… I guess you're right," he admitted._

_Neji, however, had caught on to Kakashi's plan. "I don't know… I think Kakashi's just messing with him so he doesn't have to break a sweat," he thought aloud._

"_Yeah, it looks like it…" Tenten agreed._

"_Alright, you're on!" Guy said, back to his boisterous self. "And I aim to win! If I lose, I'll take 500 laps around the village – on my hands, too!" He flashed another one of his grins and gave a 'thumbs-up'. "That's a promise!"_

_Guy's students were, as expected, dumbfounded by their teacher's insane promise. "What on Earth is he thinking?" Neji groaned. "He can't do that. He acts like a seven-year-old."_

_For once, Lee agreed with his rival. "You are right; it is impossible, even for Guy-sensei."_

"'_Reckless' is what I'd call it."_

_The two grownups reeled their dominant hands back, as if their trivial game of Rock-Paper-Scissors was some sort of Olympic event where their lives where on the line._

* * *

><p>Lee was reeled back from his reminiscing of the past when a hand was placed on his left shoulder. He looked up and saw his sensei, who was flashing his trademark grin. "I thought I'd find you here," Guy said.<p>

It took a moment for Lee to snap out of his sudden return to the here and now, but once he did, he asked his teacher, "Guy-sensei… how did you know where to look for me?"

"I know everything about you, Lee." Guy's smile then dimmed, replacing self-confidence with serious concern. "I hear you've been skipping out on your physical therapy. You know better." He then gave the boy a gentle poke to the forehead.

Lee then held his head down and returned to his earlier facial expression – that of a frown – which made his teacher lose his smile. "Back when I first made genin, I swore I would realize my greatest dream… right here on this spot," he mused. "I swore… and Neji laughed at me back then. But I meant every word of it. I remember you told me that with the right amount of passion and some healthy competition, we would all be great ninjas. And to make it happen, we would have to work for it."

He held back tears as the horrible truth hit him in the face like a brick. "I knew I could do it. Back when I attended classes, there was not a single person, sensei or student, who said that kind of thing to me. Your words were a relief. Just as I was starting to feel lost, you lifted the fog from my eyes." He gave a small smile. "I knew… all I had to do was work harder. And when I said that hard work was no match against true genius, you told me I was a genius for hard work. Thanks to you and your encouragement, I finally learned the importance of believing in myself."

He reached his limit of holding back his tears and let them run freely as his smile faded away and his fists clenched harder. "But… but it is not the same this time! Even if I believe in myself and try as hard as I can, it would not make the slightest difference!" He paused for a few seconds to sob. "Guy-sensei… please tell me what to do! How come I am the only one being punished like this?! Tell me… what should I do?!" He looked up at his teacher with wide, desperate, teary eyes. "What do I do?!"

As the sun cast its final rays for the day and disappeared from the sky, leaving the weak rays of the moon to light up the night, Guy looked at his student with a very thoughtful look. _You tried to become a great ninja relying only on Taijutsu… _he thought. _Until now, that's all you had._ He shifted his gaze over to that accursed crutch that his protégé was bound to. _It must be painful, knowing that all your hopes and dreams are about to be ripped away from you._

Taking a deep breath, Guy said to his student, "Listen, Lee… If you wish to be free of this suffering, you need to make a decision."

Lee's eyes widened in slight fear as he stopped sobbing, a good idea of what his sensei was referring to forming in his mind. "Do you mean… that I should be prepared to give up on my dreams?" he asked.

"If you lose your dreams, you'll undergo pain far worse than what you feel now. The two of us have a lot on common, Lee. Without our ninja way to guide us, you and I would never survive." Guy then flat-out said to his student, "Get the operation, Lee!"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the newest Hokage's residence, Tsunade was very busy with her research of the human body, as was proven by the tons of books lying in piles on her desk. She was so occupied by her reading that she did not even bat an eye when her personal attendant knocked on her door, entered, and placed a cup of tea on her desk. She only removed her focus on the pages when Shizune asked her, "Any progress with the cell-activation Jutsu?"<p>

"At the end of the day, it is all about chakra," the blonde woman replied. "But with so many different types of cells – skin, internal, muscular – to activate them all at once? That's gonna be a bit difficult."

"Really?" the black-haired woman asked, surprised over the simple explanation. "Well, that doesn't sound too bad, then."

The gambling sannin turned her eyes to glare at the other woman. "Are you trying to test my patience?" she half-asked, half-growled.

"No, no – not at all!" Shizune replied, holding her hands up in defense and smiling. She then said with absolute seriousness, "I have the utmost faith in you."

Tsunade said nothing in response and returned to her research.

* * *

><p>Although Lee was still crying, he had calmed down a lot, as his mind was now more than ever thinking about undergoing the surgery or not. "You know, it is funny," he started, "but I… I remember when you and Kakashi-sensei decided to compete against each other with a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors." He wiped his eyes clean of tears with the back of his right hand. "He was saying that skill is not enough, that sometimes you need luck. And this surgery is 50-50, too – live or die." He looked his teacher right in the eyes. "But this is <em>not<em> some kid's game!"

Guy closed his eyes in deep thought… and then he smirked. "And what happened after that?" he asked. "You _do_ remember, don't you, Lee?"

* * *

><p><em>Lee remembered very well what had happened. Guy lost to Kakashi and made good of his promise of taking 500 laps around Konoha on his hands. He did it. And it was hard. And it made him sweat a lot. And people who he passed by on the streets laughed at him. But despite all of that, he kept going until he was done with all 500. As he walked along on his hands, Lee watched him from a distance, wondering why in the world his sensei would actually do such a thing.<em>

_By night, as Guy was walking through the forest just outside of the village on his last couple of laps, Lee intercepted him. "What're you doing out here so late?" Guy asked._

"_What about _you_?" Lee asked back. "It is not like Kakashi-sensei is out here to watch you – and neither is anyone else, for that matter."_

_Even though he was sweating like he was in a sauna, the youthful teacher gave his student a smirk. "When a man struts around like a peacock, acting like Mr. Big Stuff, he should keep his promises, even if it kills him."_

_His teacher's answer did make sense to the bushy-browed boy, but still, he could not help but giggle. "Why do you do this?" he asked. "Every time you are about to start something, you make up these crazy rules."_

_Chuckling, Guy leapt off of his hands and landed on his feet. "Now, that's an excellent question, Lee," he replied. "I've gotta hand it to ya, son, you always get right to the point. Okay, I'll tell you… but remember: this is just between you and me."_

_If Lee was not curious before, he was now. "Why? What is it?" he asked._

_Guy held up his right index finger in a matter-of-factly way. "Alright, the truth is… a ninja's self-rule is the key to victory," he told. "Listen, Lee – the point of all these rules is to stack the deck against yourself each and every time you set yourself on a new objective. It's about giving yourself an obstacle. Instead of seeing it as 500 laps of punishment for losing, I see it as the path of beating Kakashi the next time. By leaping that hurdle, it will be that much easier to achieve my next goal."_

"_Oh. I see…" Lee nodded as he literally took notes._

"_Take today, for example. By chaining myself to those 500 laps, I forced myself to take something as trivial as a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors with an almost-deadly seriousness. That's the first benefit. And besides, even if you lose, I still have put in several laps around the village. If you wanna toughen up, it's the ultimate two-step program!"_

"_That is brilliant!" Lee exclaimed in awe._

_Guy then went back to business. "Alright, I still have a little more left…" he muttered as he got back onto his hands._

"_I am coming, too," Lee said and made a handstand as well. "I have my own rule to follow!"_

_The youthful teacher gave a look of concern to his student. "Be careful. Don't push yourself, Lee," he advised._

_The student gave his sensei a look of pure determination in response. "If I cannot keep up with you, Guy-sensei," he said, "that means I just have to push myself even harder! I wanna be like you, Sensei, and as long as I keep at it, I am sure to be a splendid ninja someday! That is a promise!" After that, Lee started walking along the path._

_Impressed by his student's determination, Guy said as he resumed walking, "Well, then I'm adding a new rule. If you are unable to keep up with me for the rest of my laps around the village…" His confident smirk became a warming one. "…then I'll put every last ounce of my being into training you. If I train you with all of my soul, there's no question you'll become a splendid ninja. That's a promise!"_

_And thus, the two of them became the best of friends amongst teachers and students._

* * *

><p>"…Of course… How could I forget…?" Lee replied in response to his teacher's earlier question, letting a nostalgic smile spread across his face. "It was the day you first taught me about the principles behind our self-imposed rules."<p>

Guy gave his protégé a proud smile. "You worked hard, Lee," he said. "There is no doubt in my mind that your surgery will be a success. You have the power to shape your own destiny. And on the one in one thousand… no, the one in _a_ _million _chance that something should happen to go wrong… I will die along with you. Since the day I met you, my ninja way has been to train you to become the most splendid ninja possible." He gave another 'thumbs-up'. "That's a promise."

Lee was overwhelmed with happy emotions, and tears not made from fear or sorrow, but from happiness rolled down his cheeks. With such a loving and respectful teacher like his, he would happen to be a moron to throw away his dreams and ambitions out of fear of possibly losing his own life. And besides, it was just like what Guy said – without their ninja way there to guide either of them, they would not be able to survive.

"Guy-sensei…!" he cried as he pushed himself off of his seat and into his teacher's chest, wrapping his arms tightly around him in a thankful hug. As his student sobbed happily, Guy just hugged back and patted him on the head while laughing heartily.

* * *

><p>The following day, everyone was gathered at the foot of the Hokage residence, their eyes locked on to the roof where Tsunade stood while she was wearing the Hokage's hat. Everybody in the village – young to old, genin to jonin, ninja to common citizen – were smiling brightly at the sight of their village's new leader.<p>

Taking off the hat that came with the title and holding it to her chest, Tsunade declared, "From this day on, I shall protect Konoha as the Fifth Hokage!" As everyone cheered and applauded, the gambling sannin smiled to herself.

After all, not only was she now in a grand position that made everyone look up to her and respect her, but she also had completely analyzed the cell- regenerating Jutsu.

* * *

><p>Mizuki: Alright… It looks like the village's future is a very bright one.<p>

dopliss (while laughing sheepishly): Indeed…

Mizuki: But you've gotta admit, that little paragraph about Guy and Lee hugging brings to mind that pornography that you once read.

dopliss: Dude, TMI! We don't wanna get crap past the website's radar!


	76. Chapter 76 Behind the mask

**dopliss: (grumbles)**

**Mizuki (smirking smugly): Say, readers… remember when this author could update his stories weekly?**

**dopliss: (growls)**

**Mizuki: And remember when the longest amount of time it took before he updated again was two weeks and not over two months?**

**Dopliss (angrily): Alright, alright! I get it! I'm sorry! (Sits over in a corner) Enjoy the chapter while I sit here in shame.**

**Disclaimer: Hiatus or no, I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

><p>After another day's mission had been completed, the members of Team 7 now stood in an alley framed by wooden fences, three of them looking at their sensei as he signed them off. "Alright, gang," Kakashi said. "We've cleared a bunch of missions, so now you've got the rest of the day off. So, until tomorrow, have fun." And with that said, he disappeared from sight.<p>

With their teacher out of sight, Naruto stretched his arms and back, audibly popping a few bones. "Thank goodness that's over!" he cheered. "My back's killing me from all that work!"

"Picking up trash isn't _that_ much of a pain, Naruto," Sakura stated. "And besides, you used four dozens of clones to make it easier."

"Yeah, that's right – but now I'm feeling the combined back pain of 48 people!"

Meanwhile, Sasuke quietly sighed in annoyance over his teammate's whining.

"Well, anyway," Naruto then said, changing the subject. "Now that we're off duty, it's time to do something I've been meaning to do for quite a while."

When she saw her orange-clad friend snicker mischievously, Sakura became suspicious. "What're you up to, you little sneak?" she asked in a slightly-demanding tone.

For the sake of building up tension, Naruto turned his back on his teammates and crossed his arms. "By the end of this day, I will have seen it," he said. "That which has been hidden before our eyes ever since day one, that which has been up till now a secret, will today be revealed for my blue eyes to see!"

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, not out of curiosity, but rather just to make his rival-slash-nuisance get to the point.

"I am talking about…" For emphasis, he quickly turned around, zoomed right up to Sakura so that their faces were very close to each other, and shone upon his face with a flashlight that he had pulled out of thin air while grinning madly. "…_**Kakashi-sensei's face!**_"

The prankster's little jump scare succeeded, as the pink-haired girl jumped backward with a squeak. "You little brat! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she then yelled.

Putting the flashlight back into hammerspace, Naruto asked in a more serious tone, "But all joking aside, haven't you guys ever wondered what's underneath that mask of his, how his real face looks like?"

Sakura meekly looked away and placed her right index finger on her lower lip. "Well, now that you mention it," she replied, "I have thought about what he looks like once or twice."

Turning away from the rest of the group, Sasuke scoffed and said, "Oh please. Who cares about stuff like that? We're done for the day, so I'll be on my way home now." And with that, he began walking away.

"But, Sasuke!" Sakura protested. "This could be fun!"

"In case you haven't noticed, Sakura, 'fun' and I never cross paths."

Naruto gave his pink-haired friend a reassuring nod and then whispered aloud to Sasuke, "What if he has lips… like a _blimp_?"

The question made Sasuke instantly stop walking, and he saw in his mind Kakashi smiling at him with red lips big enough to cover his chin and cheeks. The image alone made him shiver in disgust and curiosity.

Naruto smirked at his rival's response to his suggestion and hammered down the final nail in the coffin. "Or what if he has _buck teeth_?"

The image of big-lipped Kakashi faded from Sasuke's mind… only to be replaced with another image where his sensei had incisors so big that they would make any rodent grow an inferiority complex. And, as Naruto had predicted, it was enough to make him change his mind. Turning around and still wearing his stoic 'I'm cool and I don't care' face, he said, "I have nothing better to do, so I guess I can waste my time with this."

"Yeah, whatever, Mr. Cool Guy," Naruto replied, smirking in victory.

Meanwhile, on the other side of one of the wooden fences, Torabu had listened in on their conversation. _Kakashi-sensei's face, huh? _he thought. _That's quite a task to do. And Sairento's been pretty darn mysterious about how she looks like underneath her mask, too. _With a fire in his eyes and a grin on his lips, he pounded his right fist into his left palm. _Today's mission is clear: Find out what Sai looks like beneath her mask!_

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, the genin of Team 7 were sitting on barstools at Ichiraku's along with their sensei. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise," Kakashi said. "I never expected the three of you treating me to a bowl of ramen."<p>

"We decided that we'd for once treat you as a 'welcome back present' ever since you left the hospital," Sakura said with a sweet smile. "It might be a little late, but it's the thought that counts."

"But…" Kakashi's voice seemed to have taken a suspicious tone as he looked around with his normal eye. "…there's something odd about this." The three genin froze and silently gulped. "You're not setting me up for a stupid trap like, say, dropping a big load of snow on me, are you?"

"T-T-That's just ridiculous, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura replied while smiling insecurely.

The jonin's eye then focused on the ramen stand's owner for a few seconds before returning to his students. "And you haven't convinced the chef to put something explosive in my food so that it would blow up in my face, right?" he asked.

Sasuke's reply was a huff that made it sound like he was being insulted.

Kakashi's eye wandered away from the children again, this time focusing on the owner's daughter. Ten seconds later, he returned his gaze to the three and crossed his arms. "And you're certain you haven't made a plan with the chef's daughter about her attacking me with something utterly ridiculous like a giant punching glove on a spring?"

"W-W-What the heck would make you think that?" Naruto asked, nearly sweating from how nervous he was about his sensei's awareness of their plan.

Kakashi tilted his head to the side. "C'mon, you guys are up to something. What is it?" he pried.

The three genin put on friendly smiles, trying to act natural (which Sasuke was not, given that he barely ever smiles). "W-We're up to nothing at all, Kakashi-sensei! Honest!" Sakura insisted. "We just wanted to properly thank you for all the progress that we've made as ninjas!"

With a sigh, Kakashi finally relaxed. "Well… if you insist…"

At that moment, the chef delivered the jonin's bowl to him. "Thanks for waiting," he said kindly.

"We hope you enjoy it!" the chef's daughter said with a smile.

As their teacher took a pair of chopsticks and separated them, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke watched his face closely through the corner of their eyes. The ideas that Kakashi had mentioned were not, in fact, what the three of them had planned. What they _really _had planned was just peeking at his face as he ate. The veins in their eyes bulged and their pupils shrank as they watched him slowly pull his mask down.

But now, let's rewind the scene and change the focus from those inside the stand to two specific people outside of it.

"C'mon, Sai! Show me!" Torabu pleaded.

"For the fifth time, Torabu: no!" Sairento replied, not even hiding the fact that she was annoyed by her teammate. "Whatever secrets I may have are my business only, no matter what they may involve."

"But as teammates, we have to be open about anything that isn't very personal so we can bond better."

"How does knowing what my face looks like help us 'bond' better in any way, shape or form?"

Torabu gave a long, heavy sigh. "Okay then… Let me make it perfectly clear to you," he said. "You have a choice. Either you show me your face and get this over with, or refuse me and have me constantly nag you until you show me."

She did not need much time to think before she gave a reply. "I could also just refuse showing my face and just avoid you until you give up."

"Okay, okay, okay… You leave me no choice but to- KI-YAH!" Cutting himself off midsentence, Torabu pounced on his teammate with his hands aimed at her mask. But, unfortunately for him, the instant the two of them made contact, she disappeared in a puff of smoke and was replaced with a log with a piece of paper attached to it, and on that piece of paper was a frowning face. Torabu, as a result, landed flat on the ground.

"You really shouldn't have done that."

When he heard Sairento's voice, the cat-boy quickly turned his head in the voice's direction. The moment he found her, his eyes widened. "W-What're you doing with that mallet?!"

Alright, I think we have seen enough to know what is going to happen now.

With a pained cry and a huge lump forming on the size of his head, Torabu flew straight into Ichiraku's and hit the three chairs that Team 7 were seated on. With the three of them already sitting on the edge of their seats in anticipation from seeing their sensei's face, they unquestionably fell down. "What the heck?! Where did YOU come from?!" Naruto shouted, but it was in vain; the troublemaking ninja had been knocked out by the blow.

Meanwhile, Kakashi, who was ignorant of what had just happened to his students, put his chopsticks into his empty bowl and smiled through his mask. "Thanks for the meal," he said.

The three conscious genin stared at their teacher with wide eyes as they got back on their feet, surprised at how fast he had eaten his bowl of ramen. Then their eyes turned to the chef and his daughter, and what they saw surprised them more. Apparently, the two had been fortunate enough to see the jonin's face, as the man had a very impressed expression on his face while his daughter looked downright _love-struck_.

"Okay… now I'm _really_ curious!" the three genin said as one.

* * *

><p>"There's no question about it now!" Naruto said to his two teammates after they had regrouped back to the alley. "Kakashi-sensei's face has now upgraded from 'a curious sight' to 'a must-see'!"<p>

"Agreed… But how do we find out?" Sakura asked. "The food plan was the most subtle one, and I doubt he'd let us 'treat him' again without being more suspicious."

The orange-clad ninja crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Well, in that case, we'll just have to…" Once again, he zoomed up to his pink-haired friend and made a scary face while shining a flashlight on it. "…_**be more risqué and sneaky!**_"

Though Sakura took a step backwards from the jump scare, she was not as frightened as before. "Stop doing that. It's starting to get annoying," she said, not even trying to hide her aggravation.

Ignoring his rival's childish antics, Sasuke calmly suggested, "We should just shadow him – he's got to take off that mask at some point."

"Good plan, Captain Obvious," Naruto replied sarcastically.

Going with Sasuke's plan, Team 7 stalked their sensei from the rooftops, watching him as he went shopping for groceries. But as he went on his merry way back to his home, something caught his eye in the bookstore when he passed by it. Dropping his groceries, he approached the shop window and moved left and right, as if shimmying on a ledge. From their vantage point, Sasuke and Sakura groaned in disappointment at their sensei while Naruto wondered what on Earth the jonin was doing.

Not five seconds later, Kakashi suddenly turned around and looked in the direction of his students, who quickly ducked out of sight behind a big object. "He's on to us!" Sasuke cursed lowly.

"If he finds out that we're tailing him, we'll say that we were just practicing our reconnaissance skills," Sakura whispered.

Fortunately for the three genin, their teacher was more focused on what they were hiding behind – a huge poster of 'Make-Out Paradise: The Movie'. "Wait… my favorite book is going to be a movie?" he wondered aloud. Then, with the absolute glee of a little kid on Christmas Eve, he skipped along while squealing like a schoolgirl, "I'd better order tickets in advance!"

Seeing their sensei on the move, the three genin leapt down after him as he turned a corner. But, as soon as they had gotten to that corner, he was nowhere to be seen. "Oh _great_… he got away…" Sasuke sighed.

"Oh, come on!" Naruto groaned. "Where did he vanish off to?"

"Where did who vanish off to?"

The sound of Kakashi's voice coming from right behind them made all three of them freeze in place. "Did you need me for something?" the jonin asked, seemingly ignorant of his students' doings.

"No, no, nothing at all!" Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura replied as one, frantically shaking their heads.

* * *

><p>With the direct approach proven ineffective, Torabu had decided to find alternative methods to finding out what Sairento looks like underneath her mask. His first attempt focused on those closest to her, and since he did not know her parents and they would likely keep their daughter's secret, he decided to ask the third member of Team 6.<p>

This proved just as effective as asking his masked teammate in person.

"No, Torabu," Konran said bluntly. "I will not help you find out what she looks like without her mask."

"But aren't you just a little bit curious about what she looks like?" Torabu asked. "You must have given it some thought at least _once, _right?"

"Possibly, but I still will not help you. If she wishes to keep her face hidden from us, then we should respect her decision."

The cat-boy then decided to switch perspective. "Well, what if we're on a mission and she gets kidnapped and impersonated, then?" he asked. "Wouldn't it be best if we saw her face so that we can identify her if that was to happen?"

Konran shook his head and gave a sigh. "Torabu… if someone would kidnap and impersonate her, they would probably get every single detail right, even her face," he countered. "Ask all you want, but I am not going to help you."

Frowning, Torabu left, muttering under his breath, "If someone captures you, don't expect me to cry about it."

* * *

><p>Back at the alley, Team 7 had regrouped once again. "Hey…" Naruto started, "how did he know we were following him?"<p>

"Maybe it's because there were too many of us," Sakura reasoned.

"Bah! Numbers mean nothing if we can stay invisible!" Then, for the third time that day, Naruto put his scary face on, centered a flashlight on it, and got really close to Sakura. "_**You haven't forgotten your ninja lessons, have you, Sakura?!**_"

By now, three annoying jump scares were enough to justify Sakura clobbering her orange-clad friend on his head. "_You're_ the only forgetful one here, you little troll!" she growled angrily.

As his teammate-slash-rival-slash-common-annoyance rubbed his sore head, Sasuke told the two, "Tailing him could work, but it'd be best if we do it solo, so we can avoid getting caught."

And so they tried their new strategy… and all ended in failure. Naruto had tried to follow Kakashi through the streets, only a few steps behind, but eventually lost him when he seemingly disappeared in a blur. Sakura had been watching him from the bushes as he paid his respects to his fallen comrades, but after hours of nothing but watching him stand still as a statue, she found out that she was looking at a disguised dummy. And as for Sasuke… well, according to him, he got tired of tailing his teacher.

It dawned on the three that their objective was a lot tougher than they first thought.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry… I can't help you with that," Hinata said to Torabu in a reply to his plea.<p>

The cat-boy had gotten the idea of using the Hyuga girl's Kekkei Genkai to help him see Sairento's real face. "Oh come on! Please!" he pleaded, smiling brightly and holding his hands together. "You would do me a huge favor if you do it, Hinata."

The timid girl shook her head with a sad frown. "I'm sorry… It's just that… well, it just doesn't seem fair to her."

"But wouldn't it be nice to see what she really looks like, to see whether she's pretty or not?"

She shook her head again. "To be honest, I don't really care about her face. And besides… it's not like I have a reason to help you."

Paying close attention to that last sentence, Torabu let a smirk grow on his face. "Oooooh, _that's _what you want…" he figured. "You want another half-naked picture of Naruto in return for helping me."

Hinata said nothing, but her blushing cheeks and her eyes looking off to the side told the troublemaking ninja more than enough.

"Well, if that's what you want, then I can easily transform into him dressed in his boxers and strike a pose for ya."

At that proposal, the timid girl once again shook her head as the red color vanished from her face. "…It's not the same," she replied. "In fact, now I… now I'm not sure if that picture you gave me really _was _Naruto…"

"No, it's real," Torabu said before sighing in defeat. "Have a nice day." And with that, he left.

* * *

><p>The next day, Team 7 was off on a mission to assist on a farm. Of course, the three genin in the team were less interested in their mission and more in their real task of unmasking their teacher. At the halfway point of their journey to the farm, they came across an inn and decided to have a break there. After a failed attempt at seeing Kakashi's face during lunch (with the jonin refusing to eat by claiming that he was on a diet), Sasuke had come up with another plan.<p>

"Good idea, Sasuke," Naruto praised as he and his rival soaked in the inn's hot spring together. "Nobody would ever take a bath without taking all their clothes off."

"Quiet down, you nimrod, or you'll spoil everything," Sasuke whisper-hissed back.

But where was Sakura in all this? Well, since this hot spring was not one for mixed bathing, she was forced to stay on the other side of the big fence that separated the boys' side from the girls'. She was not happy about this, and sulked as she soaked in the water.

"I'm going in, guys!" Kakashi called.

Naruto and Sasuke stood up in the hot spring and turned their gazes to the door to the dressing room. As they saw his silhouette in the steam close in on them, his footsteps eventually became splashes. And then, when he was close enough to be fully visible in the steam, they saw that his mask was off…

…but he had replaced it with a towel wrapped around his head from the eyes down. "Phew! It sure is hot here!" he said.

Foiled again by their efforts, the two boys lost balance in dumbfounded shock. "You have got to be kidding me!" both of them groaned underwater.

* * *

><p>Back in Konoha, Torabu decided to ask the last person that he knew would be able to help him.<p>

"C'mon, Ino! Pretty please!" he begged.

Ino sighed as she finished watering the flowers in her mother's flower shop and put the watering can away. "For the third time: no. Stop bugging me," she responded and walked behind the counter. "I'm not gonna use my Mind Transfer Jutsu to possess her body and take off her mask in front of you."

"But you're my last hope! If you refuse to do it, then I'm all out of options!"

"Too bad." The blonde put her elbows on the counter, folded her hands, and rested her head on her hands. "You've just got to realize that girls have to have secrets only they know."

Torabu scoffed at that statement. "What secrets?" he asked. "As far as I know, girls don't have anything special under what they wear – they're all the same."

Hearing that claim, Ino decided to mess with the cat-boy. "Oh, really?" she asked. "And how would you know?"

"I've seen girls naked before."

Then she smirked teasingly. "If my memory serves me right, then you're referring to that female form you used to knock out Sakura in the Chunin Exams."

"Yeah, I did," he admitted, blushing a little. "What about it?"

That was when she pulled her move. "That must mean you think all girls are absolutely furry under their clothes. Well, here's a surprise for you: All girls are differently built."

Torabu raised an eyebrow in curiosity, apparently buying this load of bull. "They are?" he asked.

"Yeah. Some have eyes for nipples, others have a mouth where their navels are, and there are also some who have goat teats right under their breasts."

These lies were convincing enough to scare the troublemaking ninja, and it showed on his extremely-pale face. "…They-they-they-they have?!" he stuttered.

Ino had great satisfaction in seeing that he fell for it hook, line and sinker. "And many other things you'd never imagine."

Disturbed beyond belief, Torabu left the flower shop.

* * *

><p>When they left the inn, the only one who was refreshed was Kakashi; the rest of the team members were tired by the stress. By now, they had reached the farm and split up to do their respective tasks. As the jonin had chosen to repair the fence, he was still working when the three genin had regrouped.<p>

"I don't know how much more of this my nerves can handle, you guys," Naruto said.

"I'm getting pretty fed up, myself," Sasuke admitted.

"Yeah, me, too," Sakura agreed.

At this point, Naruto had had it with it all. "I've had enough!" he growled. "Desperate times calls for desperate measures!"

"Desperate measures?" the other two asked.

"We're gonna transform into rogue ninjas and do whatever we can to strip him of that damned mask!"

"I guess we have no choice…" Sasuke shrugged.

"But we can't use any of our techniques, or else we'll give ourselves away," Sakura stated.

With their plan set, the three of them made hand-seals and transformed into adult stereotypical ninja, with black outfits that covered everything but their eyes and all.

As Kakashi blissfully hammered the last couple of nails into the fence, the three disguised genin snuck up on him and attacked. However, in the span of ten seconds, Kakashi easily blocked their attacks, counterattacked with a kick to each of their faces, pulled a rope out of thin air, bound the three of them together, and put them down on the ground. Then, he returned to the fence and finished the job.

Thirty seconds later, when he was finished, he turned back to the three hogtied ninjas. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura… what in the world are you doing?" he asked.

With their cover blown, the three genin transformed back to normal, all giving sheepish grins. "Oh, uh, well…" Naruto trailed off, trying to come up with a good lie.

Fortunately for the three, Sakura was quick to come up with a good excuse. "Well, Kakashi-sensei…" she said. "You see, we were just trying to see if we could stand a chance against you if we all attacked you at once without using Jutsu."

The jonin raised an eyebrow. "You were?" he asked.

"Y-Yeah!" Naruto lied. "It was just to see if we've surpassed you!"

"Oh… Well, alright, then," Kakashi said and used a kunai to cut the rope. "But next time you try to do that, come at me without any disguises, otherwise I might not recognize you and murder you in cold blood." The nonchalant tone in his voice unnerved his students.

After finishing up their work, the four of them ventured back to their village. Ten minutes after leaving the farm, Naruto decided to just do the simplest of the option regarding his personal mission: just ask. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, can we see what's behind your mask?"

Kakashi looked at the three of them. "You want to know what's behind my mask?" he asked.

"Yes, we do," Sakura answered. "So… will you show us?"

"Sure, why not?"

The three genin would have smacked themselves in their faces at the fact that they could have just asked, but refrained from doing so and stared with wide-open eyes at their teacher's face as he slowly reached up to his mask. The suspense made their hearts beat hard. Did he have lips like a blimp? Or did he have huge buck teeth? Or, alternatively, did he have a very, very tiny mouth?

"Behind this mask…" Kakashi grabbed his mask between his index finger and thumb and quickly pulled it down. "…is another mask!" Indeed, there was a second mask to be seen, but this one was of a lighter color than the previous one. "Pretty cool, huh?"

The absolute anticlimax was enough of a shock to knock the three genin off their feet. "Are you kidding me?!" Naruto screamed as his sensei laughed. "What kind of reveal is that?!"

* * *

><p>dopliss: You know, I think Kakashi was just trolling his students the entire time.<p>

Mizuki: And I think you won't be able to return to your weekly update schedule.

Dopliss (frowning): …I'll try…


End file.
